Members of the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus and community advocates gathered at the Statehouse on Monday, November 3, 2025, to oppose mid-decade redistricting plans. (Photo: Casey Smith/Indiana Capital Chronicle)
Members of the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus and numerous community advocates gathered in the Statehouse rotunda on Monday to oppose Republican efforts to redraw Indiana’s congressional maps before the next census.
The rally took place the same morning GOP legislative leaders announced they would not address redistricting until December, postponing any action until weeks after Gov. Mike Braun convened the General Meeting to meet again Monday, November 3.
Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray said a delay “makes the most sense” logistically and financially, given that state lawmakers will technically meet on the regular legislative calendar.
At the Statehouse, speakers called proposed mid-decade redistricting “unethical” and “morally corrupt,” warning it could undermine representation in Black, Latino and urban communities.
Both targeted districts cover much of Indianapolis and northwest Indiana and are currently represented by Democrats.
“The maps that shape our district also shape our future,” said Rep. Earl Harris Jr. of East Chicago, who chairs the Indiana Legislative Black Caucus. “Redistricting is not just a technical process – it is a moral process. It determines the resources of our communities and how votes are heard and counted.”
“This is not the will of the people”
The two-hour event, titled “Democracy Is Not Being Redrawn,” featured Hoosier faith leaders, civil rights groups and advocates from across the state, including the NAACP, Common Cause Indiana, the African American Coalition of Indianapolis and Indivisible Northwest Indiana.
Several speakers linked the renewed redistricting push to national GOP efforts under President Donald Trump.
“Have any of you, as citizens of Indiana, called for this? No. Have any of us, as leaders, called for this? No. This call came from outside the home – from outside the state,” said Willis Bright, president of the African American Coalition of Indianapolis.
“The idea for this came from people who are eliminating health care resources for all of our residents across the state of Indiana,” he continued. “This is a message from people who are eliminating resources to provide children with a high-quality and equitable education. This is a message to people who have weaponized – politicized – independent organizations to go after people who don’t like what they represent.”
Karla Lopez Owens, a spokeswoman and attorney for the Latino community, noted that district boundaries are traditionally redrawn on a 10-year cycle after each census. The current congressional maps were completed in October 2021.
“What we are seeing now is unprecedented. It is not the will of the people. (…) We live in a democracy, not a dictatorship,” she said. “These procedural safeguards are intended to give the public a chance to provide feedback and must be respected.”
Faith leaders also recognized this issue as a spiritual issue.
“When lines are drawn to exclude certain people, injustice creeps in,” said the Rev. David Greene, president of Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis. “When communities are divided to weaken their power, democracy begins to crumble.”
Megan Robertson, executive director of Indiana Conservation Voters, said redistricting under federal political pressure betrays Hoosier values: “In Washington, we have people who are afraid of losing power and are willing to cheat to win. That’s not how we do things in Indiana.”
Calls to ‘take action’
Julia Vaughn, executive director of Common Cause Indiana, urged Hoosiers to continue reaching out to lawmakers many polls showed opposition for creating mid-decade maps.
“These districts belong to us, not the Republican National Committee,” Vaughn said. “Mid-cycle redistricting is not OK for Indiana.”
She then warned of the dangers of political interference in the process of changing national borders and emphasized that the core values of American democracy “have never been under greater pressure.”
“For the last 20 years in Indiana, districts have been drawn in the majority. It should surprise no one that many of us feel underrepresented in our state,” Vaughn added. “We don’t need new maps. We need honest maps. Let’s be united and stop this.”
U.S. Democrat Andre Carson, whose Indianapolis district is the only majority-minority district in the state and Republicans want to change that, appeared in a video message.
“I work for you in Washington, but Trump and his allies want to tip the scales so that Congress represents their interests, not ours,” he said in a prepared statement. “They want to erase the voices of Black, Latinx and Asian people, but we have fought for our rights before – and today that fight continues.”
Braun last week he formally summoned lawmakers to a special session consider redistricting after national Republicans called on GOP-controlled states to redraw congressional boundaries before 2026.
The Senate announced on Monday that it would complete its legislative work by December 12. The General Assembly will then reconvene on January 5 to resume the annual session.
But Harris said when lawmakers reconvene later this month, they should address issues such as child care, housing and food security rather than changing political lines.
“Hoosiers deserve maps that reflect who we are,” he said, “not political manipulation.”
This story was originally produced by Chronicle of the Indiana Capitalwhich is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network that includes the Ohio Capital Journal and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
