Trump's redistricting push hits roadblocks in Indiana and Kansas as
Republican lawmakers resist
[October 27, 2025]
By ISABELLA VOLMERT and JOHN HANNA
For most of President Donald Trump's second term, Republicans have bent
to his will. But in two Midwestern states, Trump's plan to maintain
control of the U.S. House in next year’s election by having Republicans
redraw congressional districts has hit a roadblock.
Despite weeks of campaigning by the White House, Republicans in Indiana
and Kansas say their party doesn't have enough votes to pass new, more
GOP-friendly maps. It's made the two states outliers in the rush to
redistrict — places where Republican-majority legislatures are unwilling
or unable to heed Trump's call and help preserve the party’s control on
Capitol Hill.
Lawmakers in the two states still may be persuaded, and the White House
push, which has included an Oval Office meeting for Indiana lawmakers
and two trips to Indianapolis by Vice President JD Vance, is expected to
continue. But for now, it's a rare setback for the president and his
efforts to maintain a compliant GOP-held Congress after the 2026
midterms.
Typically, states redraw the boundaries of their congressional districts
every 10 years, based on census data. But because midterm elections
typically tend to favor the party not in power, Trump is pressuring
Republicans to devise new maps that favor the GOP.
Democrats only need to gain three seats to flip House control, and the
fight has become a bruising back-and-forth.
With new maps of their own, multiple Democratic states are moving to
counter any gains made by Republicans. The latest, Virginia, is expected
to take up the issue in a special session starting Monday.
Hoosier state hesitates
Indiana, whose House delegation has seven Republicans and two Democrats,
was one of the first states on which the Trump administration focused
its redistricting efforts this summer.
But a spokesperson for state Senate Leader Rodric Bray’s office said
Thursday that the chamber lacks the votes to redistrict. With only 10
Democrats in the 50-member Senate, that means more than a dozen of the
40 Republicans oppose the idea.
Bray's office did not respond to multiple requests for an interview.
The holdouts may come from a few schools of thought. New political
lines, if poorly executed, could make solidly Republican districts more
competitive. Others believe it is simply wrong to stack the deck.
“We are being asked to create a new culture in which it would be normal
for a political party to select new voters, not once a decade — but any
time it fears the consequences of an approaching election,” state Sen.
Spencer Deery, a Republican, said in a statement in August.
Deery’s office did not respond to a request for an interview and said
the statement stands.
A common argument in favor of new maps is that Democratic-run states
such as Massachusetts have no Republican representatives while Illinois
has used redistricting for partisan advantage — a process known as
gerrymandering.
“For decades, Democrat states have gerrymandered in the dark of the
night,” Republican state Sen. Chris Garten said on social media. “We can
no longer sit idly by as our country is stolen from us.”
Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith, who would vote to break a tie in the state
Senate if needed, recently called on lawmakers to forge ahead with
redistricting and criticized then for not being sufficiently
conservative.
“For years, it has been said accurately that the Indiana Senate is where
conservative ideas from the House go to die,” Beckwith said in a social
media post.
Indiana is staunchly conservative, but its Republicans tend to foster a
deliberate temperance.
“Hoosiers, it’s very tough to to predict us, other than to say we’re
very cautious," former GOP state lawmaker Mike Murphy said. “We’re not
into trends.”
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Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly speaks during a news conference in Wichita,
Kan., Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Travis Heying, File)
The squeamishness reflects a certain independent streak held by
voters in both states and a willingness by some to push back.
Writing in The Washington Post last week, former Gov. Mitch Daniels,
a Republican, urged Indiana lawmakers to resist the push to
redistrict. "Someone has to lead in climbing out of the mudhole,” he
said.
“Hoosiers, like most Americans, place a high value on fairness and
react badly to its naked violation,” he wrote.
In Kansas, Republicans also struggle to find votes
In Kansas, Republican legislative leaders are trying to bypass the
Democratic governor and force a special session for only the second
time in the state’s 164-year history. Gov. Laura Kelly opposes
mid-decade redistricting and has suggested it could be
unconstitutional.
The Kansas Constitution allows GOP lawmakers to force a special
session with a petition signed by two-thirds of both chambers — also
the supermajorities needed to override Kelly's expected veto of a
new map. Republicans hold four more seats than the two-thirds
majority in both the state Senate and House. In either, a defection
of five Republicans would sink the effort.
Weeks after state Senate President Ty Masterson announced the push
for a special session, GOP leaders were struggling to get the last
few signatures needed.
Among the holdouts is Rep. Mark Schreiber, who represents a district
southwest of Topeka,. He told The Associated Press that "did not
sign a petition to call a special session, and I have no plans to
sign one.” Schreiber said he believes redistricting should be used
only to reflect shifts in population after the once-every-10-year
census.
“Redistricting by either party in midcycle should not be done,” he
said.
Republicans would likely target U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, the
Democrat representing the mostly Kansas City area 3rd Congressional
District, which includes Johnson County, the state’s most populous.
The suburban county accounts for more than 85% of the vote and has
trended to the left since 2016.
Kansas has a sizable number of moderate Republicans, and 29% of the
state's 2 million voters are registered as politically unaffiliated.
Both groups are prominent in Johnson County.
Republican legislators previously tried to hurt Davids’ chances of
reelection when redrawing the district, but she won in 2022 and 2024
by more than 10 percentage points.
“They tried it once and couldn’t get it done,” said Jack Shearer, an
82-year-old registered Republican from suburban Kansas City.
But a mid-decade redistricting has support among some Republicans in
the county. State Sen. Doug Shane, whose district includes part of
the county, said he believes his constituents would be amenable to
splitting it.
“Splitting counties is not unprecedented and occurs in a number of
congressional districts around the country,” he said in an email.
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Volmert reported from Lansing, Mich., and Hanna from Topeka, Kan.
Associated Press writer Heather Hollingsworth in Lenexa, Kan.,
contributed to this report.
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