Indiana Redistricting

     Indiana's in the middle of a redistricting fight.  The measure passed the House 57-41; not coincidentally, Indiana's Presidential votes typically run near a 60/40 split.*

     The state Senate vote will probably begin in the Elections Committee today and it's looking interesting, with a 3-3-3 split, pro, con and undecided.  If the bill reaches the floor, the GOP needs 26 votes to pass; they hold 40 of the 50 seats -- but 14 Republican Senators say they're against the measure.

     Five Republican Senators aren't saying where they stand.  The bill has a lot of moving parts besides the new map, among them language meant to control how and in what courts suits challenging the legislation may be filed, complexity that gives Senators room to say they're still studying

     Twelve legislators, most of them Republicans, have publicly stated they have had swatting attempts, bomb threats and so on over this bill.  Meanwhile, President Trump has called out nine Indiana state Senators by name, telling supporters, "Let your voice be heard loud and clear."  You can parse that however you like; in context, the statement allows Eddie Haskell levels of ambiguity.

     Local advertising, on TV, and via direct mail, email and text messages, has been intense, mostly warning me about the terrible, terrible things the Democrats are going to do if they retake control of the House in 2026.  The list includes everything from bumper sticker level fantasy about the horrors of wokeness to threatening exactly what I'd like to see: a series of impeachments, convictions and removals from office.  Based on past performance, none of them are things the Dems are really likely to do, and more's the pity.  But it's keeping the lights on at the TV stations and penny-rate electronic and bulk-mail companies, so thanks for that, and for the ongoing, mortifying soap opera that is the collapse of the American system of government.  Mr. Putin and Mr. Xi must be so happy about that last item, and isn't happiness what it's really all about?
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* You'd think, in a polity of sturdy, politically-active Jeffersonian yoemen (and woemen), this would point to a 60/40 split in our U.S. House delegation.  Perish the thought, say redistricting proponents; they're aiming for a nice 60/40 division in each and every district, sending a winner-take-all wall of House Republicans off to Washington DC and the 40% will just have to take their lumps.