As lawmakers consider redrawing Indiana’s congressional districts, the biggest question remains: When?
There are a few possibilities for lawmakers ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Laura Merrifield Wilson is a political scientist at the University of Indianapolis. She said as we get closer to Organization Day — the ceremonial kickoff to the 2026 legislative session — two options become most likely.
“You could have something — where rather than calling a formal special session — people are already coming back for Organization Day,” Wilson said. “And they could deal with this as a manner of policy.”
Or lawmakers could tackle redistricting at the beginning of the 2026 session.
“That first week — focused on the issue of redistricting. And then move all the other policy priorities to the latter half, the latter points in terms of the session,” Wilson said.
Wilson said the second option would have lawmakers racing against the clock for candidate filing deadlines.
No matter which option lawmakers choose, Wilson said Indiana Democrats don’t have any real power to stop the process.
“The Republicans have the supermajority of both the House and the Senate,” Wilson said. “So they don’t need the Democrats to even be present for a quorum or to go through the procedure and process.”
But what could those maps look like?
READ MORE: How do lawmakers redraw legislative districts to benefit one political party?
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Wilson said the 1st District, in northwest Indiana, would be easier to redraw than the 7th District, which covers Indianapolis.
“For the 1st Congressional District, you might only change two boundaries to radically change the composition of the electorate in the 1st Congressional District,” she said. “Whereas in the 7th, you’d have to do some serious overhaul.”
That would require something called “cracking.”
“And that is dividing it up — almost like putting a little, tiny asterisk at the center of it — and then dividing the off-shoots of that into the other districts,” Wilson said.
But Wilson said even that could get complicated because of how competitive Indiana’s 5th Congressional District has become.
“If you’re adding more Democratic voters, you’d be concerned that you don’t want to absolve or get rid of the 7th Congressional District, all of the sudden — if you’re a Republican gerrymanderer, drawing these lines — to then have a blue 5th Congressional District,” she said.
Gov. Mike Braun has floated the idea of a November special session for redistricting. Legislative leadership has, so far, remained silent.
Lauren is our digital editor. Contact her at lauren@ipbnews.org or follow her on Bluesky at @laurenechapman.bsky.social.