Associated Press: Indiana Republicans may seek to bolster congressional hold

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana Republicans will show next week just how far they’ll go in pushing their political control over redrawing the state’s congressional districts.

The big question is whether they will focus on shoring up the suburban Indianapolis district that U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz narrowly kept in Republican hands last year to maintain their 7-2 control of Indiana’s U.S. House delegation.

A more aggressive approach could see them try to carve up the northwestern Indiana district now held by U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan with the aim of ending Democrats’ decadeslong dominance there and gaining another GOP seat as Republicans look to regain U.S. House control in the 2022 midterm elections. …

Democrats and voting-rights activists have protested the move by Indiana House Republicans to hire Washington-based attorney Jason Torchinsky as a $1,300-an-hour legal adviser on the redistricting process. They point to his work defending Republican-drawn maps in other states and with GOP-oriented redistricting advocacy groups such as the National Republican Redistricting Trust and the Fair Lines America Foundation.

Common Cause Indiana executive director Julia Vaughn criticized Torchinsky’s work as “more political than legal” to assist with partisan gerrymandering. …

Legislative Republicans held nine public redistricting hearings around the state last month without any proposed maps for review. The only hearings planned with the maps in hand will start the day after they are released on Tuesday and will only be held on weekdays at the Statehouse in Indianapolis.

Vaughn and other activists have unsuccessfully pushed for more hearings outside Indianapolis, arguing for more than the bare minimum required by law.

“People can see, they can feel their democracy slipping away,” Vaughn said. “They are looking for you to save it.”