The most extraordinary convening of the Indiana General Assembly in decades begins Monday, with a top priority of making it easier for Republican U.S. House candidates to potentially win in next year's elections.

This isn't a special session of the Legislature. It's the regular annual session starting in December, rather than January, to tackle congressional redistricting, with little indication of how or when state lawmakers will address other pressing issues facing Hoosier households.

About the only thing that's relatively certain is lawmakers must adjourn for the year by March 14. What transpires between now and then is likely to be unprecedented.

It's believed there's still insufficient support in the Republican-controlled Senate for an unusual mid-decade redrawing of Indiana's congressional district boundaries following multiple warnings to that effect by Senate President Rod Bray, R-Martinsville.

But House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, and many Republican state representatives are eager to call the Senate's bluff by crafting and advancing a redistricting plan this week that may force senators to take an up-or-down vote on it next week in front of Hoosiers and, indeed, the entire country.

After all, it's Republican President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and national GOP interest groups that are pushing Hoosier Republicans to redistrict now for partisan advantage, despite state lawmakers already redrawing Indiana's congressional district boundaries on the usual timeline four years ago to adjust for population shifts following the once-a-decade U.S. Census.

Republicans currently control seven of Indiana’s nine U.S. House seats (78%) — as well as 80% of the seats in the Indiana Senate and 70% of the Indiana House — even though Trump and Republican U.S. Sen. Jim Banks won only 59% of Indiana’s vote in the 2024 general election, and Republican Gov. Mike Braun earned just 54% of the statewide vote.

Braun said he's determined to deliver for Trump a 9-0, all-Republican Indiana congressional delegation to try to help the GOP preserve its slim U.S. House majority and prevent any Democratic-led oversight of the Trump administration.

Doing so likely will require breaking up the 1st Congressional District, which contains all of Lake, Porter and northwest LaPorte counties, by moving most of Porter County and all of LaPorte County into the 2nd District to the east, and then connecting urban, industrial Lake County with rural areas far to the south and east, perhaps even beyond Kokomo, in the hope of tipping it "red" and ending the tenure of U.S. Rep. Frank J. Mrvan, D-Highland.

The 7th District centered on Indianapolis is also poised to be split into four or five pieces to dilute the strength of Democratic voters in the state's capital city, even if it means disregarding compactness, county and municipal boundaries, communities of interest and the other effective representation concerns that shaped Indiana's present congressional districts.

Incredibly, redistricting advocates as of Friday had yet to publicly release any maps of the proposed new districts, leaving state lawmakers and Indiana citizens in the dark about a major change to their congressional representation mere days before the House is expected to vote on the maps.

Redistricting still could be derailed, however, if heavy snow or intentional absences prevent the House from having enough members present in the chamber to conduct legislative business.

Hoosier Republicans could also decide Wednesday to focus instead on preserving the seats they already hold if the Democratic candidate, who is polling within the margin of error, wins a special U.S. House election Tuesday in a Tennessee congressional district Trump carried by more than 20% in 2024.

And then there's the Senate, where GOP lawmakers hesitant to endorse a mid-decade redistricting have had their lives and livelihoods threatened. Will that get them to buy into the new maps, or will they resist the tools of terrorism? Or will something else decide the issue?

For state Sen. Mike Bohacek, R-Michiana Shores, who declared his opposition to an early redistricting Friday, it was something else — Trump's use of the r-word as a slur against Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in the president's Thanksgiving message on social media.

"I have been an unapologetic advocate for people with intellectual disabilities since the birth of my second daughter. Those of you that don't know me or my family might not know that my daughter has Down Syndrome," Bohacek said.

"This is not the first time our president has used these insulting and derogatory references, and his choices of words have consequences. I will be voting NO on redistricting — perhaps he can use the next 10 months to convince voters that his policies and behavior deserve a congressional majority."

Meanwhile, Democrats in both the Indiana House and Senate are expected to play minor roles in the debate as they are uniformly opposed to early redistricting. Statehouse Republicans, in most circumstances, also have the votes needed to decide the issue without Democratic participation.

Though the debate itself could end up poisoning the generally collegial relationship between the two political parties beneath Indianapolis' most famous copper dome, leaving the fate of many other issues uncertain.

Beyond redistricting, lawmakers are expected to consider revising the new property tax law in response to numerous concerns identified by local units of government to Senate Enrolled Act 1; seeking ways to reduce state Medicaid spending; tackling Indiana’s soaring energy costs and glut of data centers; continuing to merge education and workforce training; and addressing food, housing and health care affordability.

There likely will be little legislation that involves new state spending because lawmakers are often reluctant to reopen the two-year state budget they just approved in April.

The entire "short session" in even-numbered years typically lasts 10 weeks. If redistricting consumes the first two weeks, or longer, it's not clear if lawmakers will have enough time to meaningfully act on other subjects, especially since the Legislature probably will take the holidays off, and Huston and Bray have suggested adjourning for the year by the end of February.

There currently is no calendar beyond early December with specified deadlines for House or Senate action. All proposed new laws, including redistricting, must be approved by a majority vote in both chambers to advance to the governor to be enacted or vetoed.

The rush to adjourn could also speed up if Trump follows through on his threat to endorse primary opponents for state lawmakers he considers to be disloyal Republicans, as they'll be eager to spend as much time as possible campaigning ahead of Indiana's May 5 primary elections.
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