It only took a flight to DC and one day of White House coaxing, and two of three Bartholomew County legislators are already soft peddling their opposition to redistricting Indiana to benefit President Donald Trump.
Who knew they could cave so fast?
Rep. Ryan Lauer, R-Columbus, and Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour, now aren’t so definitive about opposing redistricting Trump is seeking because the president knows he’s about to lose big in U.S. House seats during the 2026 midterms. That tends to happen when you cut people’s health care, threaten to move armed military into U.S. cities and, there’s that Speedway Slammer thing that didn’t go over to well.
While the two lawmakers said redistricting was a small part of a day-long discussion Tuesday with Trump officials, no one is being fooled by saying it was a “leadership conference” for Hoosier legislators with a bunch of topics including energy policy, border security, public safety, Medicaid fraud, Social Security, Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” election integrity and artificial intelligence.
But the real subject matter was Trump’s policies in regard to these topics and how none of it can go forward if Democrats take back the House in 2026.
Two weeks ago, Lauer said he thought early redistricting would be “ill-advised” and described Indiana’s current congressional district maps as “very fair.”
“…From constituents reaching out to me, I think the consensus is that we should continue with the tradition of redistricting every 10 years unless there are extraordinary circumstances. But I don’t see this as an extraordinary circumstance,” he said then.
Now, Lauer thinks the likelihood of Indiana lawmakers redrawing the congressional maps for the 2026 midterms has “increased somewhat.”
“We certainly got a lot of new information,” he said. “…I think there was a strong case, from a national perspective made by the administration. And we certainly heard that and are reviewing a lot of the information they provided. …I would say the possibility of addressing this in Indiana has increased somewhat, and the administration did make a strong case from a national perspective. So, I’m sure there will be more discussions going forward.”
Yes, discussions, about, well caving in to Trump.
Lauer contends he is standing with Hoosiers, and that he will listen to his constituents, who were busy protesting redistricting while he was in Washington D.C. A local protest rally was held Thursday in Columbus. So it may come down to who he listens to more — the people who vote him into office or Trump.
Lucas also expressed opposition to early redistricting prior to the White House meeting, calling it “highly unusual and politically optically horrible.”
“I don’t believe Republicans should stoop to the level of Democrats on this issue,” Lucas said in a Facebook post. “Republicans hold about 90% of all local offices statewide and once the voter rolls get purged of illegals, we will hold an even more commanding lead. Democrats can’t compete with their Socialist policies and ideology, and if there are seats that need targeted, we should do it the old-fashioned way and campaign harder in those districts.”
Lucas now says he’s “open-minded” to redistricting because he didn’t like what happened the last time Dems had the House and Trump was president.
Cave, cave, cave.
Only Sen. Greg Walker, R-Columbus, is staying true to the contention that redistricting is a “ridiculous idea.” And he skipped the trip. Kudos to him.
On Wednesday, Gov. Mike Braun, who must call a special session in order to have the legislators redistrict Indiana at an estimated cost of $200,000 or more, released his “cost-savings report” to the tune of $38M in his first six months in office, including cutting $72 million from future spending.
If he caves as well, and calls the session, it puts into serious question who these Republicans are serving. Because if they move forward on redistricting, it’s certainly not about serving their constituents. It’s just serving Trump.
