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Two weeks after Gov. Mike Braun said in a radio interview there might be “consequences” with the Trump administration if Indiana doesn’t pursue mid-decade redistricting, the governor said Tuesday he hasn’t received any threats from the federal government to withhold funding.
Instead, Braun said it makes sense for Indiana to redraw its electoral maps in order to maintain a good relationship with President Donald Trump’s administration, which is pushing multiple states to redistrict to ensure a Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
When asked if the Trump administration had told him Indiana could be negatively impacted financially if the state didn’t hold a special legislative session, Braun said that wasn’t the case.
“No, and I really wouldn’t expect that that would probably occur,” Braun said. “It’s just something that—why would you mess with the relationship where Indiana has been accruing a lot of benefits from it?”
While Braun said no threats had been made, Trump administration officials have been pushing Indiana Republicans to call a special session focused on redistricting.
Vice President J.D. Vance visited Indiana in early August and met with Braun and legislative leaders on the topic of redistricting. Later that month, a group of close to two dozen Republican state legislators traveled from Indiana to the White House to meet with federal officials.
The Indianapolis Star reported last month that Indiana Republicans had received robocalls urging them to support President Trump’s agenda and move to redistrict. The messages, from a group called Forward America, were being reviewed by Indiana Attorney Todd Rokita’s office, which said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that their legality was “an open question.”
Some lawmakers have said those meetings have changed their minds on the issue, though legislative leadership hasn’t said much about if or when a special session would occur.
In an interview on WOWO radio in Fort Wayne, Braun floated November as a possible time for a special session. He did not comment further on Tuesday.
“I think people have been considering it, seeing how it plays out in the big picture. And I think there’s more of an appetite for it, but I don’t think that’s been whipped or counted. I think we’re still getting there,” Braun said Tuesday.
Only Braun has the authority to call a special legislative session. There have been 13 special sessions since 1970, most recently in 2022 when state Republicans passed a near-total abortion ban.
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