The changes would likely dilute Democrats’ support throughout Indianapolis, a politically critical area, and push GOP voters into districts held by Democrats.
Republicans from Indiana’s House of Representatives released a draft of their redrawn congressional map on Dec. 1, which would give the GOP an advantage in all nine of the state’s districts and potentially net it two seats in Congress next year.
The draft map makes significant changes to Indiana’s two Democratic-leaning districts—the first and seventh—which are represented by Reps. Frank Mrvan (D-Ind.) and André Carson (D-Ind.), respectively.
Republicans opted to split Marion County, the home of Indianapolis, into four separate districts—especially favoring the sixth and ninth, which are represented by Reps. Jefferson Shreve (R-Ind.) and Erin Houchin (R-Ind.). The draft map also pushes some northwest Marion County residents into District Four, which is held by Rep. Jim Baird (R-Ind.).
The map largely pushes Carson’s Seventh District farther east and into the southeastern portions of the state; previously, it covered Indianapolis and its neighboring communities.
It also redraws Mrvan’s First District to heavily include residents previously in the Second District, which is predominantly Republican and currently held by Rep. Rudy Yakym (R-Ind.). Many of those counties heavily favored Republicans last year, with President Donald Trump carrying Fulton County by more than a 50 percent margin over former Vice President Kamala Harris.
These changes would likely dilute Democrats’ support in and around Indianapolis, a politically critical area, and push many Republican voters into the First District and the Seventh District, which are currently represented by Democrats.
Multi-State Redistricting Battle
Trump kicked off the multi-state, mid-cycle redistricting battle when he asked Texas earlier this year to redraw its congressional districts halfway through the decade to net Republicans five additional seats in the 2026 midterms.
Midterms often see the White House incumbent party lose seats in Congress, which happened to Trump in 2018 and then-President Joe Biden in 2022.
After Texas moved to redraw its districts to boost the GOP, California retaliated by putting a ballot initiative before voters this year to redraw the Golden State’s districts to benefit Democrats. The proposition succeeded on Nov. 4.
By Jacob Burg
