Indiana should not re-draw its Congressional districts
Kamala Harris won 1.1 million votes in Indiana. Do those one million people not deserve representation in Congress?
President Trump is pushing Republicans to redraw their Congressional districts for the 2026 elections, and Indiana is no exception. For the 2011 and 2021 districts, Indiana is a model for the nation. We had compact districts that follow county lines that, because of the demographics of the state, resulted in a 7-2 Republican majority. This was a stark contrast to the 2001 Democrat-drawn maps, which used a thin land bridge in Monroe County to put put Bedford in the same district as Purdue University 130 miles away, but not in the same district as Indiana University a mere 25 miles away.
As an excuse for redrawing Indiana’s maps, MAGA Republicans are pointing at neighboring Illinois. But while Illinois’ map is indeed egregious, that is not enough justification for a gerrymandered Republican map in the middle of the decade. This is a significant departure from norms, and we are going to miss these norms when they are gone. I would be more sympathetic to a gerrymandered map in 2031, though I would still oppose gerrymandering. A nakedly political mid-decade redistricting purely to please President Trump is a different animal entirely.
Nor is it a good argument that Democrats have abused their power and institutions for political gain. “Two wrongs don’t make a right” may be a cliché, but it is repeated for a reason. The answer is not for Republicans to abuse their own power, but to make this kind of abuse of power illegal, enforced by criminal penalties and, depending on the offense, lengthy mandatory prison sentences. As for the antics of states like Illinois, we could look at a constitutional amendment to limit gerrymandering as much as reasonably possible. A harsh penalty would accompany that ban: If the ruling party of one state gerrymanders the map and that map is thrown out, the minority party then gets to draw the map with no input from the majority.
MAGA Republicans point to the fact that President Trump won a commanding 1.7 million votes in 2024. But Kamala Harris won 1.1 million votes. Do those one million people not deserve representation in Congress? The people of Indianapolis are fine with Andre Carson representing them - a choice I obviously do not agree with but one they have a right to make in a constitutional republic. Lake and Porter counties have consistently chosen Democrats to represent them as well. Republican voters in the rest of the state are in no way disenfranchised because the people of Lake, Marion and Porter counties have chosen Democrats to represent them.
We also hear that “the MAGA base wants it.” Putting aside the fact that the 1.1 million Hoosiers who voted for Harris certainly do not want it, this is where populism departs from conservatism. Either we believe in following norms or we do not, and one state’s departure from norms and nakedly politically gerrymandered maps do not justify another doing the same thing. Making the situation worse with a never ending “arms race” of new maps is not the solution. This is not about the Republican Party, or correctly representing Hoosiers, or even the behavior of the Democrats. This is about pleasing one man. The Republican Party needs to be about much more than stroking the ego of the chief executive.