Ahead of the vote, Republican state Sen. Greg Walker spoke about his opposition to the bill. He quoted a section from the state Senate rule book regarding ethics and spoke about the threats made against several lawmakers, including himself, who opposed the mid-decade redistricting.

“I refuse to be intimidated,” he said. “I made a choice.”

Nearly 130 Hoosiers registered to testify on Indiana’s redistricting proposal, which opponents have argued is crafted to all but guarantee an entirely Republican congressional delegation.

The six-hour marathon state Senate elections committee hearing followed the bill’s passage through the state House on Friday. 

Mike Morris, a member of Citizens in Action, a Lafayette tea party organization, argued that the new map is payback for Democratic gerrymandering and said if Democrats were to gain power in the House, they would attempt to impeach President Donald Trump for a third time. 

“I urge you not to just merely be in office, but to be in power, and use that power to save our federal republic,” he said.

Hamilton County resident Lasima Packett encouraged senators to set an example for the rest of the country and show that they would not be bullied by President Donald Trump and “cave” to his demands. 

“House Bill 1032, by its own author’s admission, was drafted purely for political performance,” she said. “That admission alone should give us all pause.”

The goal of the redrawn map is to get a 9-0 Republican congressional delegation for next year’s midterm elections. The current map gives the GOP a 7-2 advantage in the state. 

Pressure to change the map and boost Republican headcount in the House came from Trump and his allies. Democrats need to gain just three seats to win control of the House next year. If Democrats flip the House, they could render Trump a lame duck during his last two years in office by blocking his legislation and launching congressional investigations. That prospect has led to Trump strong-arming several GOP-controlled states.

The coast-to-coast redistricting fight broke out after Trump first publicly called on Texas to redraw its map to give Republicans a five-seat boost heading into the 2026 midterm elections. California countered, passing a ballot measure in November that would redraw its map, giving Democrats the advantage in five GOP-held districts. Republicans in Florida, Ohio, and Missouri followed Texas’s lead and passed maps that favored the GOP.

In Indiana, Gov. Mike Braun (R-IN) has been a vocal advocate of mid-decade redistricting for the state. He announced in October that he was scheduling a special session to redraw the map after weeks of pressure from the president.

Unlike the state House, where representatives made quick work of it, passage of HB 1032 will face a tougher time in the state Senate. 

Republican Indiana Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray has said for weeks that he does not have enough votes. He seemed to slightly back off those claims on Monday, saying, “We’ll all find out on Thursday.” Bray has also argued that partisan gerrymandering is not the right way to achieve a 9-0 map and warned it could backfire on Republicans down the line. 

The redrawn map was introduced seven days ago. It dilutes Democrats’ strength in deep-blue Indianapolis, represented by Reps. Frank Mrvan (D-IN) and Andre Carson (D-IN). The new map splits it into four different districts, the 4th, 6th, 7th, and 9th, that stretch into rural Republican areas.

“If passed, HB 1032 would effectively erase Indiana’s two Democratic congressional districts, both of which represent the state’s most diverse communities, Marion and Lake County,” attorney Karla Lopez-Owens said. “These two counties have the highest concentration of black, Latino, and Hispanic voters. By voting yes on HB 1032, you will be robbing so many of us of meaningful representation.”

Democrats introduced four amendments to the bill, which all failed.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) made personal phone calls to Indiana senators who are on the fence about supporting the redistricting push. 

Over the weekend, Trump invited Braun to a White House Christmas party, where he put the governor on the spot and asked him, in front of everyone, if redistricting would be successful in his state. Braun purportedly said yes. 

Indiana’s Republican senators have pushed back on mid-decade redistricting, a move that Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and their allies have not taken kindly to. 

Trump recently posted the names of nine Indiana senators who “need encouragement.” 

“I am hearing that these nine Senators, some of whom are up for Re-Election in 2026, and some in 2028, need encouragement to make the right decision: Blake Doriot, Brett Clark, Brian Buchanan, Dan Dernulc, Ed Charbonneau, Greg Goode, Jim Buck, Rick Niemeyer, and Ryan Mishler,” he posted on Truth Social. “Let your voice be heard loud and clear in support of these Senators doing the right thing. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Trump has repeatedly upbraided Bray and other state senators on social media and has promised to endorse primary challengers to any state lawmaker who opposes redistricting.

In the weeks following, a dozen state lawmakers were the victims of threats and swatting, in which a hoax call is made to police to elicit a law enforcement response, typically to someone’s home. 

Brett Galaszewski, an enterprise director at Turning Point Action, the political arm of the organization founded by the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk, said if the state Senate passes the redistricting bill, it would be “the final exclamation point that we needed to send.”

INDIANA HOUSE PASSES CONGRESSIONAL MAP DESIGNED TO BENEFIT REPUBLICANS

“But if it doesn’t — and I hope these senators hear me right now when I say these words — if it does not pass, Turning Point Action is willing to throw more money and resources into these primary races than some congressional races,” Galaszewski said at a rally targeting reluctant Republican senators. “We will throw so much money and resources into this state that no amount of money coming from a leadership (political action committee) will be able to offset it.”

Braun, who headlined the event, said failure in the Senate “means you’re gonna have to clean house to get real conservatives in.”