Indiana’s status as a red state is secure. Conservatism is the dominant philosophy and Republicans have historically been the favored political party.
The state, however, is more balanced in terms of partisanship than the makeup of state government would suggest.
In the 2020 gubernatorial election, Republican incumbent Eric Holcomb won convincingly with 57% of the vote. President Donald Trump won the state with a similar tally. Both GOP candidates — although very different in terms of character and personal attributes — enjoyed strong popularity with Hoosier voters.
Yet Republicans hold 70% of state legislative seats, rendering minority Democrats virtually mute when it comes to crafting and passing laws that affect 100% of citizens. The GOP has held super majorities in both houses of the legislature since 2012 and its grip on lawmaking power shows no signs of easing.
A super majority exists when one party holds more than two-thirds of the seats in a legislative chamber, enabling it to conduct business without a single member of the minority present.
How does one party gain such a stranglehold?
Democrats, who did their share of gerrymandering in the past, hold some blame. They often have been unable to recruit viable candidates for competitive races. Republicans, of course, claim their policies serve voters well and they deserve to wield such power.
But the biggest factor is Republicans’ ability to gerrymander legislative boundaries in their favor. The majority party controls redistricting every 10 years, and the GOP has gotten so good at manipulating the process that it not only preserves a majority, it has created a sustainable super majority. While the state’s partisan breakdown may actually be closer to 57-43 in Republican favor, its control of the legislature, thanks to gerrymandering, is around 70-30, a super majority.
This dynamic has real-world impact, and Hoosiers need to tune in to its negative effects.
When district maps are so unbalanced, the result is greater representation from fringes of the political spectrum. Elections get decided in the primary, and that means politicians end up answering only to the base of the dominant party in that district. The rest of the voters wind up being disenfranchised.
If the legislature reflected the electorate, you would not see the volume of extreme measures proposed or passed. There was no reason the permitting system for carrying concealed weapons needed to be abolished. Police agencies, including the Indiana State Police, were opposed. Surveys showed many Hoosiers were opposed as well. It passed anyway.
The same happened with the harsh treatment of LGBTQ+ individuals through banning transgender females from participation on girls athletic teams. Heavy-handed efforts to dictate how controversial issues are taught in classrooms ultimately failed, but they garnered much support from conservative legislators.
Balanced government produces reasoned political debate and fosters a greater willingness to seek consensus and compromise on important issues such as education, infrastructure, economic development, criminal justice and public health.
Super majorities stand in the way of constructive lawmaking. Hoosiers would be wise to begin demanding the restoration of political balance and a return to fair representation in their legislature.
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