Hoosier State Republicans are signaling that a new congressional district map may make its way to the governor’s desk in time for midterm elections, but some hurdles still lie ahead. In a six-to-three vote Monday night, Indiana’s Senate Elections Committee advanced a new redistricting map already approved by the state’s House of Representatives.

Currently, seven of Indiana’s nine congressional seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are held by Republicans; the new map would fracture urban Indianapolis and likely ensure that Republicans hold all nine congressional seats. The bill will now move to the Senate floor, where a vote is expected later this week.

President Donald Trump and Governor Mike Braun (R) have urged Indiana’s legislature to approve the redistricting plans in an effort to expand the GOP’s slim majority in the House. Some state-level Republicans, however, have been hesitant to embrace the move. State Senator Greg Walker (R) of Columbus, for example, was the only Republican on the Elections Committee to vote with Democrats against advancing the redistricting legislation. “I fear for Indiana and all states if we allow intimidation and threats to become the norm,” he said, referring to the president’s efforts to encourage Indiana Republicans to redistrict.

In a Truth Social post over the weekend, the president praised the Indiana House for approving the congressional maps and called on nine Indiana Senate Republicans who “need encouragement” to follow suit and vote in favor of the maps. He warned that some of the hesitant senators “are up for Re-Election in 2026” and urged Indiana voters to “[l]et your voice be heard loud and clear in support of these Senators doing the right thing.”

Several other Indiana Republicans have been hesitant to support redistricting. Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray (R) has consistently denounced the effort to draw new congressional maps, instead favoring efforts to flip blue districts red. “I want to be abundantly clear that our Senate Republican Caucus wants to see a Republican-held House in 2026 so that President Trump can continue making progress on important issues like fighting illegal immigration and crime in our country,” Bray said in a statement last month. “However, many in my caucus, myself included, do not feel that redrawing our Congressional districts mid-cycle is the best way to achieve that goal. We would rather support efforts to elect a Republican in the existing 1st Congressional District, which has been trending Republican for the last several years and would give President Trump another Republican in Congress,” he continued. “We don’t believe the choice to redistrict is a binary choice where we will either keep a 7-2 map or draw one that automatically becomes 9-0. Candidates in these hypothetical districts have not walked a parade, attended a county fair or raised a dollar.”

In comments to The Washington Stand, FRC Action Director Matt Carpenter explained, “The Indiana Senate is expected to take up the new maps for consideration this Thursday. Unlike the states that have gone through redistricting up to this point, there has been significant and public opposition from within the Republican-led state senate.” Carpenter noted Walker’s opposition to the new district maps on the Senate Elections Committee and continued, “On Thursday, we’ll find out how many Republicans in the Indiana Senate oppose the redistricting plan. Republicans currently hold 40 out of the Indiana Senate’s 50 seats, and they just need 25 votes to pass the new maps. I think it’s safe to assume whatever happens on Thursday in Indianapolis will make news around the nation on Friday.”

The president initially called on red states to redraw congressional district maps earlier this year, in order to ensure his administration is bolstered by a GOP-controlled House and Senate for the remainder of his term. Texas was the first state to respond, but its new congressional district map was almost immediately challenged, and both a federal district and appellate court blocked the use of the new maps, citing the Voting Rights Act’s (VRA’s) prohibition against racial gerrymandering. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, issued an administrative stay, allowing the new Texas map to go into effect in time for the midterms.

The Supreme Court’s decision to stay the lower courts’ decisions against the Texas map comes as the nine justices consider declawing Section 2 of the VRA, which bars drawing congressional district maps along racial lines. In October, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Louisiana v. Phillip Callais and Press Robinson v. Phillip Callais, consolidated into one case centered on redistricting and Section 2 of the VRA. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) announced last week that Florida will also move to redistrict, but will wait for the Supreme Court’s decision in the Louisiana cases first. He said that the Supreme Court’s decision “impacts Florida’s maps,” adding, “I think we are going to be required to do it [redistrict] because of this court decision.”

So far, Texas, Missouri, Ohio, North Carolina, and Utah are the only red states to have officially reshaped congressional districts, netting the GOP a likely eight or nine extra seats in the House. Utah’s redistricting efforts were halted by a federal judge, who imposed a new map likely to turn over one seat to Democrats. California also drew new congressional district maps, potentially eliminating as many as five Republican congressional seats. In addition to Indiana and Florida, several other states are eyeing new congressional maps — namely, Virginia and Maryland, although both states are expected to redistrict in order to hand Republican-held congressional seats to the Democratic Party.