By Colleen Steffen and Sydney Byerly
September 18, 2025
Pete Buttigieg spoke before a thunderous crowd in the Indiana Statehouse Thursday afternoon, calling on state Republicans to resist pressure from the Trump administration for mid-decade redistricting.
“They want the outcome of the election to be decided before you vote,” said the former U.S. transportation secretary, presidential candidate and South Bend mayor. “We have a word for that …”
People standing shoulder to shoulder in the second-floor rotunda and crowding the railings of the two upper floors shouted back their answers. “Fascism!” yelled one man.
“The word I’m going to go with is cheating,” said Buttigieg, “and cheating is wrong.”
The Rally Against Gerrymandering was inspired by a new national movement toward mid-decade redistricting. State legislatures typically redraw the boundaries of state legislative and congressional voting districts every 10 years after the U.S. Census to account for changes in population. Voting districts within a state must be roughly the same size, but that doesn’t stop lawmakers from drawing the lines to benefit their political party and make their candidates more viable on Election Day—a process called gerrymandering.
Indiana has been called one of the most gerrymandered states in the nation, a 2023 report describing its redistricting process as “secretive and partisan.”
Now some Indiana Republican lawmakers are agreeing with President Donald Trump’s call to redistrict this year. Although the GOP holds seven of the state’s nine congressional seats, Republican legislators see the possibility of redistricting to flip one or both of Indiana’s congressional seats held by Democrats.
And Indiana is not alone. Already, Texas, California and Missouri are moving forward with redistricting, and other states are considering it.
Vice President JD Vance visited the Indiana Statehouse in August to discuss the issue, and later that month, a group of Indiana lawmakers traveled to Washington D.C. for more talks.
This week, the Indiana Capital Chronicle reported that Republican Gov. Mike Braun could favor the calling of a special session of the state legislature to redistrict in November. “If we try to drag our feet as a state on it, probably, we’ll have consequences of not working with the Trump administration as tightly as we should,” he said.
In his Statehouse visit, Buttigieg highlighted the squeeze state lawmakers could be feeling from the White House.
“They are under so much pressure,” he said. He encouraged the left-leaning crowd—holding signs that read, “Stop the steal,” “No fascism in America,” “Don’t help liars cheat” and “I miss human decency”—to give lawmakers credit for doing “the right thing” or to hold them politically accountable if they do not.
Gerrymandering attempts to convince people their votes don’t count, he said—“Are you ready to prove them wrong?” The crowd roared in response.
Other speakers defined early redistricting as “prioritizing power over public service,” as Sen. Andrea Hunley, D-Indianapolis, phrased it.
“We know these failed Republican policies have pushed Hoosiers too far,” she said, mentioning property taxes, utility bills and child care as issues many Indiana households are struggling with—and that would make better use of lawmakers’ time.
“Utilities are forcing Hoosiers into bankruptcy,” said Terre Haute Mayor Brandon Sakbun, citing stagnant wages as a source of stress for many people, especially teachers and low-income workers. He called on lawmakers to “speak with moral clarity and listen to what Hoosiers really need.”
Buttigieg—a potential candidate for president in 2028—took up the theme, saying unpopular national policies regarding food assistance, Medicaid, tax cuts for the wealthy and more have made early redistricting a necessity for Republicans.
“Even here in Indiana,” he said, “ they’re afraid of losing.”
“This is what democracy looks like,” chanted the crowd packing the floor of the Indiana Statehouse rotunda. People holding signs were wrapped around the railings on the third and fourth floors, looking on as Democratic legislators from across the state spoke out Thursday against early redistricting.
Protesters gathered for a Rally Against Gerrymandering to combat a growing national push for mid-decade redistricting.
Michael Potter, a candidate for House District 47, stood out in the crowd wearing an inflatable duck costume. He said he came up with the idea while campaigning in 2024 because the shape of his district looks like a duck. The duck became a symbol of his campaign.
Realizing the duck also highlights how elections at every level can be gerrymandered and separate communities, Potter said it only felt fitting to bring it out of the closet today.
Near the back of the crowd beside the news station cameras, Bonnie Marsh of Bloomington stood with her poster board sign, brandished in caution tape and cut out ransom letters. Marsh said she felt emboldened to show up today because she’s newly retired and said this cause needs “warm bodies on the morally right side” to show up and speak out.
“We have to stop all of this crazy nonsense,” Marsh said, “And the hateful rhetoric from (President Donald) Trump and all his cronies. They are hypocritical and spineless. So much has happened everywhere. Nine months feels like three years.”
Pastor David Greene, president of the Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis, started the rally by saying, “They’re preparing to redraw the maps, and we must prepare to resist.”
“We must organize to speak louder, alongside leaders who are lifting our voice in this fight, because this is not just a political issue. It’s a moral issue,” Greene said. “Democracy is not a spectator sport, it’s a team effort.”
Echoing that point, Indiana Senate Minority Leader Shelli Yoder, D-Bloomington, said redistricting is about more than lines on the map. “It’s about the values that define who we are.”
“Elections belong to the people… [Proponents of redistricting] are counting on us getting exhausted. They are counting on us to be divided. They are counting on us to give up,” Yoder said. “…If you have to cheat to win, you’re already lost.”
Colleen Steffen is executive editor of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news site powered by Franklin College journalism students.
Sydney Byerly is a political reporter who grew up in New Albany, Indiana. Before joining The Citizen, Sydney reported news for TheStatehouseFile.com and most recently managed and edited The Corydon Democrat & Clarion News in southern Indiana. She earned her bachelor’s in journalism at Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism (‘Sco Griz!).
The Indiana Citizen is a nonpartisan, nonprofit platform dedicated to increasing the number of informed and engaged Hoosier citizens. We are operated by the Indiana Citizen Education Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) public charity. For questions about the story, contact Marilyn Odendahl at marilyn.odendahl@indianacitizen.org.
