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Across the country, states led by Republicans have raced to redraw congressional districts to favor Republican candidates under pressure from President Trump. That effort hit unexpected pushback in Indiana, where a NPR congressional reporter Sam Gringlas has been talking to Hoosiers.
SAM GRINGLAS, BYLINE: The Carmel Christmas market in suburban Indianapolis draws visitors from across the state to sip hot cocoa and munch on schnitzel around bonfires and a skating rink. A lot of Hoosiers are thinking about the holidays now but also redistricting. Steve Saylor is one of them. He says he hopes the Indiana Senate does overhaul the congressional map.
STEVE SAYLOR: I love it. I mean, as many Republicans that we can get in, the better.
GRINGLAS: Indiana is currently represented in Congress by seven Republicans and two Democrats. The proposed map could wipe out those two Democrats by carving up the districts they represent. Under the plan, a blue-leaning district near Lake Michigan would be split in two, and the city of Indianapolis, now mostly unified, would be divided into four.
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GRINGLAS: Nate Byers says he wants Congress to keep supporting President Trump's agenda. He says the criticism of mid-cycle redistricting is overblown.
NATE BYERS: I think we probably worry about politics too much. Sure, everybody wants to have power and their voice heard, but a lot of good things are happening right now.
GRINGLAS: But go to a neighborhood in the heart of Indianapolis, and you find voters who say there is plenty of reason to worry.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Singing) Ding-dong merrily on high.
GRINGLAS: At the Broad Ripple Christmas parade, I met Lynn Levy, who listed issues facing her community.
LYNN LEVY: Affordability, resources to fight crime and work on infrastructure. And when you have your district spread out between a city to the edge of the state line where it's very rural, the issues are completely different.
GRINGLAS: A voter in Indianapolis could soon end up in a district stretching 150 miles to Kentucky.
LEVY: I think it'll seriously affect voter turnout because people won't think that their vote matters.
GRINGLAS: Across town, Genesis Jones saw firsthand how representation in Congress does matter. Jones squeezed in an interview before "Sunday Night Football."
GENESIS JONES: I think the Colts are going to win today. Actually, I know they are (laughter).
GRINGLAS: For months, Jones had been fighting for Social Security benefits. She says she had head trauma from domestic violence that caused seizures so bad she couldn't drive. A last resort, she called up the office of her congressman, Democrat Andre Carson.
JONES: Everybody was kind, and it didn't feel like I was speaking to robots. And ultimately, they resolved what I had been battling for eight months in just a little over three weeks.
GRINGLAS: Jones says without a member of Congress invested here in Indianapolis...
JONES: I believe that my case would still be sitting on somebody's inbox.
GRINGLAS: At a coworking space in an old Stutz car factory downtown, I met Nicole Carey. She runs a new nonprofit called Cradle Indy, focused on fighting maternal and infant mortality. Indiana has among the worst rates in the nation.
NICOLE CAREY: Seven of the 10 top ZIP codes in the state of Indiana that have the worst infant mortality rate, seven of them are in Marion County.
GRINGLAS: Where Indianapolis is.
CAREY: We have an extremely unique population here in Indianapolis, and you need someone who understands their district in an intimate way.
GRINGLAS: Redistricting in Indiana was supposed to be a slam dunk. But some Republican lawmakers noted the push was coming from D.C., not Indiana, and said their constituents did not want this. But Trump and his allies amped up the pressure, even calling out undecided lawmakers on social media. They threatened primary challenges and withholding funding from their districts. University of Indianapolis professor Laura Merrifield Wilson says Indiana is a pivotal test for Trump.
LAURA MERRIFIELD WILSON: This is the moment in which we evaluate his ability to control the Republican Party.
GRINGLAS: Meanwhile, some states controlled by Democrats are now also redistricting, trying to keep pace in the fight for control of a narrowly divided Congress.
WILSON: What if enough states do this, and it's actually a wash? The real loser here are voters in those congressional districts.
GRINGLAS: This week, hundreds gathered at the limestone state capitol in Indianapolis. The chants of protesters echoed inside the Senate chamber during hours of public testimony.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: (Chanting) No redistricting.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Chanting) No redistricting.
GRINGLAS: Republican Senator Greg Walker was targeted with threats of violence for opposing redistricting. He said capitulating under pressure would have been like accepting the offer of a bribe and that the stakes crystallized as he recently held a constituent's baby.
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GREG WALKER: As I thought about a future for that child, where we accept that intimidation is normal. And I shall refuse the offer for the sake of that child, and the future of the state.
GRINGLAS: Walker has said he won't run for reelection, but now, despite or maybe because of the pressure, he's thinking about staying. Another open question, the outcome of tomorrow's final Senate vote.
Sam Gringlas, NPR News, Indianapolis. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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