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Sheila Suess Kennedy

This column was originally published by Sheila Kennedy on her blog, “A Jaundiced Look at the World We Live In.”

By Sheila Kennedy
July 19, 2026

My very Red home state of Indiana (I was born here and will undoubtedly die here) has been governed by Republicans for eons. Okay, maybe “eons” is a bit of an overstatement, but there has been a GOP majority in the House of Representatives for the last 15 years, and Republicans have had a super-majority since 2012. Republicans have controlled the Senate since 1992 and had a supermajority in that chamber since 2010.

Currently, Republicans hold 70 of 100 House seats, and 40 of 50 seats in the Senate. The Governor and all other statewide officers are Republicans.

Survey research suggests that, while Republican voters outnumber Democratic ones in the state, the breakdown is far less lopsided than our “representation” would suggest. (Indiana voters don’t register by party, but there have been surveys to determine partisan preferences. One 2025 poll, by North Star Opinion Research, found 29% of registered voters self-identifying as Republican, 21% identifying as Democrat, and 15% identifying as independent. When “leaners” were assigned, Republicans expanded their majority to about 12 points. (I guess the “no response” folks are the ones who keep Indiana’s turnout so low–during the 2022 midterms, Hoosier turnout was 39.6% of registered voters.)

Rather obviously, elections that mirrored partisan preferences would still favor the GOP, but by far less than the percentages with which we find ourselves. The lopsided results of our legislative elections are due to the state’s extreme partisan gerrymandering.

So– what has this solidly Republican governance given Hoosiers? How have we fared under the benevolent rule of our Republican masters?

I recently came across an accounting and checked its accuracy. Here’s where our very Red state falls on a wide number of metrics:

Pollution

• Deal last, 50^th, for pollution and natural environment
• More top-100 “super polluter” coal plants than any other state
• 134 million cubic yards of toxic coal ash, and 41 of 42 ponds are unlined
• Groundwater contamination found at every plant that reported testing

Economy

• 8^th most federally dependent state in America, a taker state
• Minimum wage frozen at $7.25 since 2009; tipped workers get $2.13
• Teens can legally be paid $4.25 an hour for their first 90 days
• No paid sick leave law and no paid family leave law

Healthcare

• 41^st in the nation for healthcare, behind Illinois, Michigan and Ohio
• Bottom 10 nationally for smoking, obesity, vaccinations and public health funding
• First state in America to pass a near-total abortion ban after Roe fell
• 200 more residents per primary care doctor than the national average

Health Outcomes

• 3^rd worst maternal mortality among reporting state, 30.9 deaths per 100,000 births
• A “D” grade for infant health; Black babies die at nearly twice the state rate
• 7^th highest smoking rate; 12^th most obese state
• Once led the nation in meth lab seizures; Evansville was called the meth capital of the world

Education

• Only 51.7% of graduates go straight to college, down from 65% a decade ago
• The steepest college-going collapse of any state in 15 years
• Republican lawmakers forced colleges to cut over 400 degree programs
• 38^th in teacher pay; average salary falls below a living wage

When I checked the accuracy of this list, I found that it isn’t exaggerated — it’s a tight, well-sourced summary of genuinely rough rankings, mostly drawn from U.S. News, WalletHub, March of Dimes, and Earthjustice/state environmental data.

In November, Hoosiers will once again go to the polls, and once again test the thesis that a majority of Indiana voters would elect a rutabaga if it had an “R” next to its name.

There are a few glimmers of hope: the midterms are shaping up to be a Blue Wave, and Indiana’s Democrats are actually fielding candidates in virtually all districts, after years of failing to contest elections in heavily gerrymandered districts. At the state level, the new Lincoln Party–an effort by Independents–is poised to appeal to the voters who aren’t particularly happy with Republican officeholders, but convinced that lightning will strike them dead should they vote for a Democrat.

And perhaps–just perhaps–those Democratic and Lincoln campaigners can hammer home the dismal results of the state’s longtime one-party rule.

There are good reasons why women, medical practitioners, teachers and a variety of talented folks flee states like Indiana–reasons we can’t retain significant percentages of our college graduates, or offer potential employers a highly-skilled workforce. There are reasons Blue urban areas routinely get shortchanged by legislative distribution formulas. There are reasons why Indiana’s legislature engages in embarrassing culture wars while ignoring the issues highlighted in that depressing list.

The negative effects of partisan gerrymandering aren’t limited to political battles.

Sheila Suess Kennedy is Emerita Professor of Law and Public Policy at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis. As an attorney, she practiced real estate, administrative and business law in Indianapolis before becoming corporation counsel for the City of Indianapolis in 1977. In 1980, she was the Republican candidate for Indiana’s then 1th Congressional District and in 1992, she became executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana. She joined the faculty of the School of Public and Environment al Affairs in 1998.

The views and opinions expressed are those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Indiana Citizen or any other affiliated organization.