Vance to urge Indiana to redraw map to help Republicans tighten House grip

JD Vance will travel to Indiana on Thursday to encourage Republican lawmakers to redraw the state’s congressional map to be more favorable to the GOP, the latest in a brazenly nationwide push to reconfigure district lines ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

Republicans already control seven of Indiana’s nine congressional seats, but Republicans have complete control of state government, which would allow them to redraw the map to pick up more seats. Donald Trump is also pushing Missouri to redraw its congressional map to add more GOP seats. Republicans in Ohio, where Republicans already control 10 of 15 districts, are also likely to reconfigure their map later this year to add more Republican seats.

Republicans have an extremely slim margin in the US House and Democrats need to net just three seats to flip control of Congress next year. The president’s party typically loses US House seats in a midterm election, which is why Republicans are pushing to redraw districts in their favor.

Vance will meet with Indiana’s Republican governor, Mike Braun, and state legislative leaders on Thursday. To redraw the maps in Indiana, Braun would need to call a special session.

The effort comes as Democratic lawmakers have fled Texas to halt a Republican attempt there to redraw the map to add five more Republican seats. Texas’s governor, Greg Abbott, has launched a long-shot legal effort to get the top Democrat who fled, Gene Wu, removed from office.

The US senator John Cornyn, of Texas, also said on Wednesday that the FBI had agreed to his request to assist with returning the lawmakers. The FBI declined to comment and legal experts have questioned how the federal law enforcement agency could legitimately play a role in returning the lawmakers.

Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, also announced on Wednesday he had launched an investigation into a group run by former congressman Beto O’Rourke that has been covering the costs of Texas lawmakers as they remain in Illinois. Each lawmaker that breaks quorum is fined $500 per day.

The governors of California and New York, where Democrats have complete control of state government, have pledged to retaliate against Republicans’ redistricting efforts by adding Democratic seats, though both states face legal requirements that make aggressive gerrymandering more difficult.