Johnson County would have an additional state senator under a proposed redistricting map released Tuesday.
The proposed map is part of the once-a-decade process of redrawing the political map and includes some more changes for Johnson County.
Under the proposed maps by state Republicans — which have full control of Indiana’s redistricting process through their dominance of the state legislature — State Senate District 32, represented by Sen. Aaron Freeman, R-Indianapolis, would cover portions of Clark and Pleasant townships in northern Johnson County. The district currently covers southeastern Marion County.
If the maps are approved by lawmakers, Freeman would join three other state senators in representing Johnson County — Rodric Bray, Jack Sandlin and Greg Walker.
State Senate Districts 36, 37 and 41 would continue to cover parts of the county, though their boundaries would shift.
District 36, represented by Sandlin, currently dips into White River Township, but mostly covers the southside of Indianapolis, including the near southside and Fountain Square. Under the proposed map, Sandlin’s district would cover a larger portion of White River Township and add a portion of northeastern Pleasant Township in Johnson County. It would also shift further south, out of Marion County’s Center Township entirely.
Bray, who represents all of Morgan County and portions of Johnson, Owen and Putnam counties in District 37, would not see much change to his district. To account for changes in other districts, including Sandlin’s, District 37 would cover less of White River Township in Johnson County. His district would also cover more of Owen and Putnam counties, the proposed map shows.
District 41, represented by Walker, would see substantial changes, particularly south of Johnson County. Currently, his district covers all of Blue River, Clark, Franklin, Needham, Nineveh and Pleasant townships in Johnson County, and the northern portions of Bartholomew County. Under the proposed map, Walker would continue to serve all of Blue River, Franklin, Needham and Nineveh townships in Johnson County. However, he would only serve the southern portion of Pleasant Township, and would no longer serve any of Clark Township. Walker also would now serve all of Bartholomew County, the map shows.
Newly drawn districts also split up communities throughout the county — something lawmakers said they would try to avoid.
Greenwood, the county’s largest city, is now covered by four Johnson County districts. Under the maps enacted in 2011, the city was covered by three.
The town of Whiteland would also be split into more than one district. The small town would mostly be in District 41, but the far eastside would be in District 32.
Lawmakers prioritized keeping “communities of interest” together and implemented numerous suggestions that were made during the public hearings in August, Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray said in a statement.
“I’m very pleased with the work done to produce the new Senate district maps we are proposing,” Bray said. “We have prioritized keeping communities of interest together and drawing districts that make sense for the Hoosiers who live there, while maintaining nearly equal populations in each district.”
Last week, state lawmakers released their plans for Indiana’s congressional and state House districts, and under the proposed maps, Johnson County would move to U.S. Congressional District 6, represented by Greg Pence, R-Indiana. Two Indiana House districts that currently cover the county — districts 65 and 93 — would no longer do so if the plans are approved.
The county would be a part of districts 57 and 60, while continuing to be a part of districts 47 and 58, under the new maps.
State Republicans, for their part, plan to move quickly to approve the new districts. The House elections committee held two days of public hearings on both the congressional and Indiana House maps last week, and earlier this week the House elections committee voted 9-4 along party lines to endorse plans for the state’s nine congressional districts and 100 state House seats.
The state’s redistricting plan would give Republicans a big advantage in seven of Indiana’s nine congressional districts and likely give them 69 of the 100 Indiana House seats even with a typical 56% Republican share of the statewide vote, the Associated Press reported.
The full Indiana House will vote Thursday on the new maps, with final votes in the state Senate set for Oct. 1 — making Indiana one of the first states to complete the redistricting process.
House Republicans also faced criticism for wanting to add the State Senate plan to the redistricting bill on Wednesday without any committee review, and before the Senate elections committee holds a public hearing on the Senate plans on Monday. A Senate vote will follow on Tuesday.
Senate Republicans say the proposed maps increase the number of whole counties within a district to 65 from 49. About 96% of all townships and 92% of all cities were kept whole, Senate Republicans said in a news release.
Senate Democratic Leader Greg Taylor criticized how the redistricting process had been carried out this year, saying the process was not transparent and that previous public hearings excluded communities of interest and did not answer constituent’s questions. He also criticized the hearings that were held last week and said Hoosiers had not been given enough time to review the congressional and state House maps in detail to give comprehensive feedback.
“I appreciate that the senate will have more time to analyze district maps before the public hearing next Monday, but that doesn’t change the fact that this process has been closed-off and restrictive of Hoosier engagement from the start,” Taylor said in a statement. “Hoosiers wanted more time and more meetings where they could actually have their questions and concerns answered. Instead, the committee meetings last week and the Senate one next week were scheduled during hours when people are at work and attending class.”
The Senate hearing on Monday will take place at 9 a.m. in the Senate Chamber at the Statehouse in Indianapolis.
“We have said all along that public input is an important part of the redistricting process,” Senate Elections Committee Chair Jon Ford said in a statement. “We saw a great turnout from the public during the committee meetings in the House of Representatives last week, and we hope to hear additional feedback Monday in our committee meeting when we discuss our proposed new Senate districts.”
Because of the timing of the hearing, the Senate Democratic caucus will host three public input sessions to give Hoosiers the opportunity to comment on the maps. Senate Democrats have reached out to their Republican colleagues on the Senate Elections Committee to see if they would join them for the meetings.
The closest session for Johnson County residents to attend will take place at 6 p.m. Monday at the downtown Bloomington branch of the Monroe County Public Library, 303 East Kirkwood Avenue.
As of now, the state Senate has a 39-11 Republican supermajority, which with the 71-29 GOP House control, allows Republicans in both chambers to approve proposals without any Democrats being present. Republicans have had continuous majority control of the Senate since the 1978 elections, and held a Senate supermajority since the 2010 elections.
Republican leaders have said that the speedy redistricting action is needed so county officials have as much time as possible to prepare for next year’s elections since the candidate filing period starts Jan. 5. The redistricting debate would have typically occurred as the regular legislative session ended in April, but the coronavirus pandemic delayed the release of census data.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
