Democrats from Both Indiana and Texas to Meet in Chicago

CHICAGO, IL.–Indiana House Democrats will join Texas Democrats in Chicago on Wednesday to protest a redistricting plan that Texas Democrats fled their state to stop.

President Donald Trump believes the redistricting effort in Texas could benefit Republicans by five additional seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Some lawmakers have left Texas to avoid participating in what they consider unfair legislation, causing a lack of quorum in the Texas House of Representatives.

Assistant Minority Whip of the Indiana House Democratic Caucus Mitch Gore says the whole idea of redistricting in Indiana is ridiculous since Republican U.S. representatives outnumber Democrats in Indiana 7-2.

“You can see that the fix is in already. To want to come back and take the other two, you can’t hide that,” said Gore in a Tuesday interview with 93 WIBC’s Kendall and Casey.

Gore, who is supposed to attend the event in Chicago, said he’s calling for an independent redistricting commission. Gore says President Trump is being power hungry and it’s causing a trickle down effect.

“This feels very anti the American experiment to me,” said Gore.

Indiana Governor Mike Braun would have to call a special session, but lawmakers have the sole power to draw new maps.

“The idea of a special session almost makes this even worse. There’s more of an argument to have a special session over the mess that was the property tax relief bill (Senate Bill 1),” said Gore.

Indiana leaders, including Floor Leader Cherrish Pryor and Vice Chair Ed DeLaney, will address the issue at a press conference alongside Texas representatives like HDC Chair Gene Wu and Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia in Chicago at 1:30 p.m. CT.