LPIN statement on Gov. Braun's call for a special session

News article provided by the Libertarian Party of Indiana.  

The Libertarian Party of Indiana strongly condemns Gov. Mike Braun calling the Indiana General Assembly into a special session to serve Donald Trump’s desires for unchecked power.

Calling for a mid-decade gerrymandering of already-partisan maps is a costly power grab by Republicans who are trying to stack the deck in the 2026 midterm elections.

Braun claims he is calling the session to “protect Hoosiers from efforts in other states that seek to diminish their voice in Washington and ensure their representation in Congress is fair.”

In other words, the map drawn by Republicans five years ago to create seven largely-safe Republican seats wasn’t fair enough. Braun is also wrong. The actions of Democrat-led states to redraw maps mid-decade was not to “thwart the will of the voters,” but a response to Trump and his team browbeating and demanding Republican states gerrymander for his benefit.

“This is happening not out of ‘response’ to Democrat-led states, but because J.D. Vance and the Trump administration have made multiple trips to Indiana and given legislators private trips to the White House to browbeat them into submission to Trump’s agenda,” Libertarian Party of Indiana chair Evan McMahon said. “This is all to try to give someone who has already tried to shred the Constitution unchecked power to do so even more. That will not protect Hoosier voters, but will instead erode their voice in Washington. When the federal government gains more power, the states lose their voice.”

Changing the maps to try to create more safe Republican districts could flip the count the other way, bringing more districts into play.

“This will potentially backfire in the 2026 legislature elections as disinterested Democrats and independents will now have a reason to turn out,” McMahon said.

Other Libertarian leaders are speaking out against this naked power grab by the Trump administration and Indiana Republicans.

“This special session is nothing more than an attempt to cheat Hoosiers out of free and fair elections by further gerrymandering the state—not because it is needed, but because party bosses in D.C. are demanding it to retain more power,” said Lauri Shillings, who is seeking the LPIN’s nomination for Indiana Secretary of State in 2026. “Redistricting should ensure fair, equal representation and not rig the system for one political team.”

The Libertarian Party of Indiana calls on the General Assembly to swiftly vote to refuse to re-draw the maps and quickly end the legislative session, before the unnecessary cost to Hoosier taxpayers for this power grab begins to add up. Protecting our Republic means having fair elections, not badly-gerrymandered maps.