By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
November 28, 2025
After Republican leadership in the Indiana General Assembly announced the House and Senate would be reconvening in December, Indivisible Central Indiana rallied its supporters with an urgent message: “The fight against redistricting is back on.”
Voter-advocacy nonprofits and grassroots organizations never really relaxed when the effort to redraw the state’s congressional district map appeared to stall in the Indiana Senate. Now, with confirmation that the representatives and senators will be taking up the issue of redistricting at the start of December, the opposition groups are increasing the pressure on lawmakers to reject any reshuffling of the congressional boundaries.
On Monday, as the Indiana House is scheduled to gavel into session, the opposition has planned a massive protest at the Statehouse. And even before the long Thanksgiving weekend ends, Indiana Conservation Voters’ six-figure ad campaign against redistricting is being launched and will begin appearing on cable, radio and digital media.
“This is very much a people’s movement,” Amy Courtney, executive director of MADVoters Indiana, said. “This is the same people’s movement that we’ve seen throughout our history, starting with the Revolution and on through the Civil War and into the Civil Rights Movement. It’s when people come together that we have power and when we come together, when we stand up, we win.”
Individuals and advocacy groups have been opposing mid-decade redistricting since August, when the push began to redraw Indiana’s congressional map to put Republicans in all of the state’s nine seats in the U.S. House. Before Organization Day, the traditional start of the Indiana legislative session, which fell on Nov. 18, Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray announced his Republican caucus did not have enough votes to support a new map and the upper chamber in the legislature would not be reconvening in December to consider redistricting.
However, groups opposing redistricting remained wary. During an evening zoom meeting with supporters on Nov. 20, Common Cause Indiana executive director Julia Vaughn said GOP senators were still being pressured to redraw the map. She encouraged constituents to continue calling and emailing Republican legislators and asking them to stand against a new congressional map.
“We’re dealing with unprecedented times,” Vaughn said, pointing out that the fight is becoming fierce with lawmakers being swatted and threatened for not supporting redistricting. “So, there’s no telling what could happen.”
Monday’s Rally Against Redistricting, which will start at noon, is being organized by a broad coalition, including Indivisible Central Indiana, ACLU of Indiana, MADVoters Indiana, Common Cause Indiana, Indiana Conservation Voters, Women4Change and Planned Parenthood. Several speakers will be firing up the crowd and the opposition groups will be passing out information telling the protesters what else they can do to encourage lawmakers to not adopt a new congressional map.
Residents from northwest Indiana are planning to board a bus and travel to the Statehouse to join the rally, according to Courtney. That section of the state is the home of the 1st Congressional District, which is held by Democratic Rep. Frank Mrvan and has been seen by Republicans as a seat they can flip. Also, Courtney said, a busload of residents from the Fort Wayne area in northeast Indiana is expected to make the trip to the Statehouse rally as well.
“It should be a good day,” Courtney said. “And in solidarity… we are encouraging people to wear purple and that is on purpose. It’s not a blue issue or a red issue. This is a Hoosier issue.”
Indiana Conservation Voters is spotlighting what it says is bipartisan opposition to redistricting in its ad campaign. The 30-second spot features what look to be everyday people identified as Indiana Republicans, who explain why they are against reconfiguring the congressional district lines ahead of the 2026 mid-term election.
The ad promotes arguments against mid-decade redistricting, including saying that it is “a waste of tax dollars” and “puts D.C. in charge of Hoosiers.” One of the speakers, identified simply as “Joe,” issues a plea at the end, saying “Don’t rig our elections.”
Megan Robertson, executive director of Indiana Conservation Voters, said the motivation for the ad was to counter some of the pro-redistricting rhetoric and tactics, and remind legislators that their constituents, including lifelong Republican voters, do not want the General Assembly to spend time creating a new map that favors GOP candidates.
“You know, you win campaigns by having good policies and getting results for people,” Robertson said. “That’s really what Republicans, both in the Statehouse and at the congressional level, ought to be focused on, doing a good job for their constituents. Then they won’t have a problem with winning elections.”
Both Courtney and Robertson are optimistic that with continued opposition, redistricting will fail in the Statehouse.
Robertson noted the Senate has not been able to muster the votes needed to pass a new map. The division appears to be deep, with 19 Republicans breaking ranks on Organization Day and voting with the 10 Democrats to support the continuing resolution that said the Senate would not reconvene until Jan. 5.
Also, Robertson said, no one has seen the new congressional map. So, once the House reveals the new boundaries, she said, constituents could be even more upset, especially since Porter County in northwestern Indiana is likely to be split and the city of Indianapolis could be chopped into three or four pieces. Consequently, lawmakers may be less likely to approve any new map.
“This has been a long battle,” Robertson said of the redistricting fight. “I think most folks watching would describe it as uphill, a little bit of a David versus Goliath situation. But, the bottom line is, when Hoosiers don’t like something, they do get a little bit rowdy about it and, I think, that’s what they’re doing.”
Courtney said the voter advocacy and grassroots groups that have been trying to derail redistricting are used to the workings of the General Assembly, and, in particular, they have seen legislation being revived in the past that was thought to be dead. The energy going into December is raising the public’s interest, which, she said, could be good for nonprofits and constituents who often have to work very hard to get legislators’ attention.
“In a lot of ways, it’s been a gift,” Courtney said of the continuing battle over redistricting. “The momentum that we have going into the legislative session, and to really shine a light on the shenanigans and the passing of bills that are harmful to Hoosiers (has been beneficial). … I think a lot more eyes are going to be on what they’re doing in the Statehouse. That’s a good thing for democracy.”
Dwight Adams, an editor and writer based in Indianapolis, edited this article. He is a former content editor, copy editor and digital producer at The Indianapolis Star and IndyStar.com, and worked as a planner for other newspapers, including the Louisville Courier Journal.
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.
