As recalcitrant Democrats in Texas continue to defy the law to stall the redistricting effort there, President Trump has decided to ramp up the pressure to redraw the congressional boundaries of other red states.
He recently dispatched Vice President JD Vance to Indiana to meet with Governor Mike Braun (R) about it.
Micah Clark, executive director of the American Family Association of Indiana, says only two of The Hoosier State's nine congressional seats are held by Democrats.
"The Democrats are both in pretty urban areas … near Chicago and Indianapolis. I don't see how they could eliminate one," Clark tells AFN.
He says they could possibly be redrawn to become "a little more Republican," or maybe the Republicans could be more competitive in those two districts over time.
"But I don't really see how that can be done unless you really gerrymander and draw the districts very strange," he adds. "They are districts that are fairly square."
In 2021, Princeton's Gerrymandering Project gave Indiana's district maps an "A" grade; Illinois' congressional maps – which led to the state having 14 Democratic representatives and three Republican representatives, allowing Democrats to put together potentially veto-proof majorities – received an "F."
Clark does not know why Indiana was chosen for this effort, and he does not see the two Democratic seats changing without playing the Democrats' game – which he does not want to do.
"Honestly, I don't know that it's fair," he submits. "We have 35-40% of the votes statewide are Democrat, and to eliminate two congressional seats really undervalues the Democrat vote in Indiana."
"I think politics should have a fair basis to it," Clark says.
