House Speaker Mike Johnson is expected to join a conference call with Indiana House Republicans this weekend as they prepare for a session to consider redrawing congressional maps, deepening his involvement in the state's mid-cycle redistricting push.
House Speaker Mike Johnson is expected to participate in a conference call with Indiana House Republicans at 1 p.m. on Saturday, ahead of their state House session scheduled to begin on December 1 to consider redrawing congressional maps.
According to an invitation described to Politico, the call is slated to focus on plans to revisit Indiana's congressional districts, with Republicans weighing potential changes to the 1st and 7th districts that could yield as many as two additional GOP-held seats in the U.S. House.
Johnson's planned engagement marks an escalation of his role in Indiana's mid-cycle redistricting process, which Politico reports has been driven in part by the White House. The speaker has previously characterized redistricting as a matter for individual states and said it was not an area of his direct involvement.
Politico reported last week that Johnson spoke by phone with Indiana Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray after Bray announced that Senate Republicans would not convene to advance new maps, reflecting resistance within his caucus to reopening the issue. During that call, Johnson stressed the importance of preserving Republicans' narrow House majority ahead of the midterm elections, according to Bray's account.
Earlier this week, Bray reversed course, saying his caucus would make a final decision on whether to take up redistricting when senators are expected to reconvene on December 8. Still, multiple Indiana Republicans close to the process, who spoke to Politico on the condition of anonymity because they have received personal threats over the issue, said they believe the Senate remains a handful of votes short of the support needed to move forward.
A spokesperson for Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the planned call. The redistricting debate has underscored divisions within the Republican Party over how aggressively to pursue new maps as the midterms approach.