By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
November 18, 2025
Feedback from ReCenter Indiana’s three nonpartisan listening sessions released this fall echoed the polling results by other organizations: Hoosiers are more concerned about the issues impacting their wallets than about congressional district maps.
The feedback, which was released Monday evening, was collected at ReCenter’s public meetings held in Martinsville, Beech Grove and Fishers between Oct. 30 and Nov. 13 to discuss the push for mid-decade redistricting. Attendees were asked questions throughout the presentation and discussion, and overwhelmingly, the results showed they wanted the Indiana General Assembly to focus on the issues affecting their daily lives, such as rising health-care costs, food insecurity and public education.
“Across every community we visited, neighbors were overwhelmingly opposed to redistricting and instead urged lawmakers to focus on the issues that matter most,” Don Knebel, board president of ReCenter Indiana, said in a press release.
The three listening sessions attracted 150 attendees in all and a handful of state lawmakers. According to ReCenter Indiana, 100% of the audience members at the Fishers meeting were opposed to redistricting. At the Beech Grove and Martinsville listening sessions, the opposition dropped slightly to 97% and 96%, respectively. Also, 84% to 92% of attendees at all three meetings said they would not vote for an elected officials who supported redistricting.
In addition to answering questions about redistricting, the participants also highlighted the issues they thought were more important. The top concerns they listed were health-care access and affordability, cost of living and the economy, support for public education, and environmental protection.
“Hoosiers want lawmakers to address real issues,” Knebel said. “Similar concerns rose to the top at all three listening sessions. This gives Indiana elected officials a clear priority list to act on behalf of the people they are sworn to serve.”
ReCenter Indiana released the feedback just a few days after Indiana Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray, R-Martinsville, announced that the upper chamber of the state legislature would not be reconvening on Dec. 1 for an early session. The December session had been planned to consider redistricting, but Bray said state senators would be staying home because a majority of the Republican caucus opposed redrawing the state’s nine congressional districts.
Indiana lawmakers have been the focus of the Trump administration’s effort to reconfigure congressional districts in Republican-led states to give GOP candidates an advantage in the 2026 mid-term election. Republicans already hold seven of nine seats in the Hoosier State’s delegation to Congress, but the White House wanted the legislature to redistrict in order to flip the 1st and 7th Congressional Districts from blue to red.
Bray’s announcement on Friday drew sharp rebukes from his fellow Republicans, President Donald Trump, Gov. Mike Braun and Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith. Sunday, Trump posted on social media that he was “very disappointed” and said any Republican who votes against mid-decade redistricting “should be PRIMARIED.” Braun followed on Monday by criticizing the Indiana Senate for “hiding behind closed doors and refusing to even bring redistricting to a vote.”
However, late Monday, Sen. Blake Doriot issued a statement, saying that redrawing the congressional maps was not the best way for Indiana Republicans to help the GOP retain control of the U.S. House. The Goshen Republican said he wants Trump to be successful, so the president can “continue fixing our woke colleges, fighting illegal immigration and crime, and encouraging us to speak about our great nation and be proud of who we are as Americans – not apologize for it.”
Yet, Doriot said, splitting the Democratic 1st and 7th Congressional Districts would not guarantee GOP victories. He pointed to the difficulty of recruiting viable candidates and mounting successful campaigns under the tight deadlines of the 2026 election calendar.
“There are no well-established Republican candidates working those hypothetical districts – they haven’t walked a parade, haven’t raised a dollar, and there will likely first be a primary race before we even get to the General Election.”
Not only have Indiana lawmakers been reluctant to redistrict, polls have consistently shown that Hoosiers do not support redrawing the congressional map ahead of next year’s election.
An August poll by Change Research for Count US IN found 52% of Hoosiers opposed mid-decade redistricting. Similarly, polls released in October and November by other nonprofits also showed a majority did not favor a new congressional map. Independent Indiana’s survey of Hoosier voters showed 53% were against reconfiguring the district boundaries, while Indiana Conservation Voters reported 51% did not want redistricting.
Since Bray’s announcement, Indiana House Speaker Huston, R-Fishers, and other House Republicans have been very quiet about their plans. That may change on Tuesday, Nov. 18, as state representatives and senators will be convening at the Statehouse for the Indiana General Assembly’s Organization Day, which is the start of the 2026 legislative session.
Bray is scheduled to speak to the Senate at 1:30 p.m. and Huston is scheduled to address the House at 2 p.m.
According to its press release, ReCenter Indiana is submitting feedback from its redistricting listening sessions to the state legislators.
“ReCenter Indiana commends the Indiana Senate for prioritizing the voices of Hoosiers over those who don’t live here and don’t understand Hoosier issues, and we thank the people across the state who stood up and spoke out,” Knebel said.
Founded in 2022, ReCenter Indiana is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to keeping elected officials focused on the needs of their constituents and encouraging Hoosiers to be civically engaged. Video archives of the three listening sessions are available on The Indiana Citizen’s website.
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.
