Indiana House Democrats called out Republican House leadership for not following House rules for convening, hours after the state legislature leadership announced it will reconvene in December to address mid-census redistricting.
On Organization Day, Nov. 18, the House and Senate both adjourned until Jan. 5, 2026. Under state law and House rules, the House has to meet at the time stated in the motion, and any changes to the date have to be agreed to by the House Speaker and the minority leader, said House Minority Leader Phil GiaQuinta.
“The Speaker has not asked, nor have I agreed to, changing the conveying date. The next day of the regular session is scheduled to be Jan. 5, not Dec. 1, and frankly, I’m surprised the Speaker forgot the House rules,” GiaQuinta said.
GiaQuinta, D-Fort Wayne, said he was “offended” by the leadership calling the House back on Dec. 1 with less than a week’s notice – and without presenting proposed maps – to talk about mid-census redistricting.
GiaQuinta said House Speaker Todd Huston called him Tuesday morning to inform him the house will reconvene Dec. 1. Huston didn’t tell him why the legislative leadership shifted its stance on mid-census redistricting.
“I think it’s taking cues from folks out in Washington D.C. We as Hoosiers don’t do that, we’re an independent bunch,” GiaQuinta said. “We need to make our own decisions on these things.”
Huston, R-Fishers, said in a statement Tuesday that House Republicans will gavel in on Dec. 1, reconvening the 2026 regular session, to consider all legislative business “including redrawing the state’s congressional map.”
A spokeswoman for Huston did not immediately respond to questions about convening rules or when proposed maps will be presented.
The Indiana Senate will reconvene Dec. 8 to “resolve” the issue of mid-census redistricting, Senate Pro Tem Rodric Bray announced Tuesday, just days after at least seven Republican Senators received false calls to the police.
“The issue of redrawing Indiana’s congressional maps mid-cycle has received a lot of attention and is causing strife here in our state,” Bray said. “To resolve this issue, the Senate intends to reconvene as part of the regular 2026 session on Dec. 8 and make a final decision that week on any redistricting proposal sent from the House.”
Bray, R-Martinsville, and Huston said that because the 2026 session will reconvene starting in December, the 2026 legislative session will conclude by the end of February. Typically, sessions in non-budget years end in late March.
Gov. Mike Braun said Tuesday he’s grateful that the legislature will convene “to vote on fair maps.”
The Senate’s announcement was a sharp shift from its stance that it won’t meet to discuss mid-census redistricting because the chamber doesn’t have the votes to pass the measure.
After Organization Day, Bray said the Senate would rather support a Republican candidate in the First Congressional District to “give President (Donald) Trump another Republican in Congress” as opposed to mid-census redistricting.
“We don’t believe the choice to redistrict is a binary choice where we will either keep a 7-2 map or draw one that automatically becomes 9-0,” Bray said. “I’ve had the honor to speak with the President on this issue, and I have expressed to him that our caucus is supportive of him and wants to maintain Republican control of the House, which is why we believe pursuing Congressional District 1 is the best way forward.”
Indiana was last redistricted in 2021, which left Congressional Republicans with seven seats to the Democrats’ two seats. The Democratic seats are Northwest Indiana’s First District, held by U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan of Highland, and the Seventh District, held by U.S. Rep. André Carson of Indianapolis, which encompasses most of Indianapolis and Marion County.
Redistricting typically occurs every 10 years after the release of census data. In Indiana, any piece of legislation, including new Congressional maps, have to be passed by the House and Senate before heading to the governor’s desk.
The Senate had been a hurdle for Indiana’s redistricting efforts after a spokeswoman for Bray told reporters in October that the Senate did not have the votes to pass new Congressional maps.
A spokeswoman for Bray did not respond when asked if the Senate had the votes, as of Wednesday, to pass new Congressional maps.
Braun called for a special legislative session to “consider altering the boundaries of Indiana’s congressional districts” and federal and state tax compliance beginning Nov. 3, according to a news release.
The Indiana Senate announced Nov. 14 that it canceled a two-week session to discuss mid-census redistricting because of a lack of votes. Two days after the cancellation announcement, Trump issued a statement on his social media site Truth Social calling out “RINO” Bray and Goode “for not wanting to redistrict their state, allowing the United States Congress to perhaps gain two more Republican seats.”
Hours after Trump posted his comment, Goode received a false swatting call. After Organization Day, when the Senate voted to reconvene in January, seven more State Senators – Dan Dernulc, Spencer Deery, Ric Niemeyer, Kyle Walker, Linda Rogers, Greg Walker and Andy Zay – received swatting calls or threats as of Friday afternoon. Braun said he and his family have been threatened as well.
Dernulc, R-Highland, said Tuesday he still hadn’t made a decision on redistricting and that he’s “listening to all sides.” Dernulc said the swatting call hasn’t impacted his decision one way or the other.
“My family was put in harm’s way. Being threatened is not a good thing,” Dernulc said. “The intimidation of that stuff did not work. I’ll do what’s right for my constituents and my state.”
Dernulc said he wasn’t told why the Senate changed its stance to meet. Senators haven’t been sent any proposed maps, he said.
On Organization Day, Dernulc voted in favor of reconvening Jan. 5, 2026. He said that vote doesn’t reflect how he will vote on redistricting.
“That was a procedural vote,” Dernulc said. “That has nothing to do with where I stand.”
When asked what information he still needs to see to make a decision, Dernulc said he wants “to see everything.”
Niemeyer, R-Lowell, said Tuesday he hadn’t seen any proposed maps, so he wasn’t sure how he’d vote yet.
“I haven’t seen that yet, so I don’t want to commit to that,” Niemeyer said.
The swatting call against him won’t impact his vote, Niemeyer said. However, Niemeyer said if someone has made a decision on a topic and then gets threatened, that person could further maintain their position.
“Sometimes it works the other way — makes them dig in more,” Niemeyer said.
Mid-census redistricting conversations and actions began in August when Texas redrew its Congressional map to give Republicans five more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. In response, Democratic states, like California, have taken steps to redistrict to gain Democratic seats.
The Trump administration has been asking Republican state leaders to redraw Congressional maps to ensure a Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives after the 2026 election.
When Texas began its redistricting efforts, Texas House Democrats left the state to delay the vote. GiaQuinta said Indiana House Democrats can’t leave the state because Republicans have a supermajority, which means they have the votes to pass any piece of legislation.
“We are in the super minority, so we can’t walk out and stop the proceeding. Certainly, there’s probably some House Republicans that don’t want to vote for this either, and maybe they are the ones that shouldn’t show up,” GiaQuinta said.
Indiana Democratic Party Chair Karen Tallian said in a statement that she called on moderate Republican House members State Reps. Dave Hall, R-Norman; Danny Lopez, R-Carmel; Hunter Smith, R-Zionsville; Becky Cash, R-Zionsville; Ed Clere, R-New Albany; and Alaina Shonkwiler, R-Noblesville, to boycott the House session.
“These six legislators can pretend they oppose the gerrymandering all they want, but if they allow a quorum to be met, they are as complicit as any other member of their supermajority caucus. This is the only way to save our democracy and ensure the General Assembly gets back to the issues that actually matter to Hoosiers like tackling the affordability crisis in our state,” Tallian said.
Julia Vaughn, executive director of Common Cause Indiana, said she was “extremely disappointed” that the state legislature isn’t listening to Hoosier voters, the majority of whom don’t support mid-census redistricting.
“It’s really frustrating. I hope that the bullying, the swatting and the death threats — they are basically now rewarding that kind of behavior. Those folks are getting what they want,” Vaughn said.
If the legislature plans to pass the maps within two weeks, it would leave enough time for candidates to file their candidacy, Vaughn said. But, Vaughn said that staff members in local election offices will be left with a lot of work to accommodate the new boundaries and candidates, she said.
“They are really putting a lump of coal in the Christmas stockings of local election officials should they choose to pass new Congressional maps,” Vaughn said.
Organizations are planning a rally at the statehouse against mid-census redistricting on Dec. 1, Vaughn said.
