Ebony Barney, 40, lives in the house where she was raised on the north side of Indianapolis. She’s represented by U.S. Rep. André Carson, one of only two Democratic members of Congress from Indiana.
But Barney believes Black voters like her could soon be stripped of their voice.
“It's just a huge injustice,” said Barney, a public health worker who went to the Indiana Statehouse last week to oppose congressional redistricting. “I find it hard to understand how so many people could be supportive of there being absolutely no representation of so many people.”
Indiana House Republicans approved a new congressional map Friday that would break up Marion County into four sprawling districts. The state Senate will convene this week to consider the plan.
Barney’s district would be reshaped to snake from her Indianapolis neighborhood east to Ohio and south to Kentucky. A Republican would be almost assured to win.
The bill’s author, Rep. Ben Smaltz (R-Auburn), insisted race was not considered and the goal was to reduce the power of Democratic voters.
However, many Black voters in Indianapolis say it’s impossible to see the proposed districts as anything other than an effort to dilute the votes of the largest Black community in the state. Carson, who is Black and represents most of Indianapolis, would have little chance of winning reelection under the new map.
Barney, who works in public health, told state lawmakers that disempowering Indianapolis voters would have dire consequences. She pointed to high rates of infant mortality and HIV in neighborhoods that have faced historic discrimination and disinvestment.
“When these communities are split across multiple districts, their ability to demand funding, prevention programs, accessible care are weakened,” Barney testified.
The redistricting measure in Indiana is the result of pressure from President Donald Trump, who has also urged GOP legislatures in states such as Texas, Missouri and North Carolina to redraw lines to gain a political advantage ahead of the midterm elections. Democrats in California and Virginia have responded with similar efforts.
But redrawing the map has faced resistance from some Indiana Senate Republicans, who say their constituents do not support mid-cycle redistricting. Democrats say the new map is designed to dilute the voting power of minority communities.
A city split
Most of Indianapolis is currently in District 7, which sits entirely within Marion County. The seat has been held by Carson since 2008, and supporters say they believe he’s advocating for their community. The new map would split those voters up, placing them in districts with large swaths of suburban and rural voters with different political interests.
The district is the most racially diverse in the state. Nearly one-third of residents are Black, and 16% are Hispanic, according to the U.S. Census Bureau data.
Lifelong Indianapolis resident Darrell Daniel, 67, lives a few miles south of Barney. The new map would move Daniel to District 9, which would include a sliver of Marion County alongside nearly a dozen other counties and stretch more than 100 miles to the Kentucky border.
Daniel, a retired social worker who has voted in nearly every election since becoming an adult, said he would feel “betrayed and deceived” if the state redraws the lines.
“You have diluted my power by unjust means,” said Daniel, who is Black. “I don't feel I'd be represented.”
Across the city in Pike Township, Tamara Rollins would be cut out of District 6 and placed in District 4, which would extend west to Illinois.
Rollins — who joined others from the Indianapolis chapter of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women to protest redistricting at the Statehouse last month — said redistricting is undemocratic.
“It’s just underhanded,” she said. “I should be able to have a voice — no matter what I look like, no matter my gender, no matter my political stance.”
A portion of Marion County's south side is currently part of District 6, which extends south of Indianapolis and east to the Ohio border.
Partisan motivations for redistricting
While many in Indianapolis feel targeted, some local voters want the map redrawn. They say the voices of conservatives in the city have gone unheard for years.
Over a hundred redistricting supporters attended a rally at the Statehouse Friday. Many were from other parts of the state. But Rochelle Fox, who described herself as almost 70, lives in downtown Indianapolis.
As a conservative Black woman, Fox said she does not feel represented by Carson. And because the current district is heavily Democratic, she doesn’t believe she has a voice in elections.
“I don't want anybody that just gets selected and not elected,” Fox said.
Carson won reelection in 2024 with 68% of the vote, beating out Republican and Libertarian challengers.
Adam Harvey, 30, who lives in Lawrence Township, is also frustrated with how uncompetitive the current congressional district is.
“For a constituent like me, this is the only way you break one party rule in Indianapolis,” he said.
Harvey, who is White, says redistricting isn’t about race.
“To the best of my understanding, the maps are being drawn more so for a partisan advantage than any other factor being considered on the table,” Harvey said.
That’s essentially the argument from Republican lawmakers like Gov. Mike Braun, who has emphasized the political motive for redistricting.
The U.S. Supreme Court has allowed states to draw congressional maps for partisan gain without federal court oversight, but racial gerrymandering faces more scrutiny, said Gregory Shufeldt, a political science professor at the University of Indianapolis.
Still, the relationship between racial identity and partisanship is so strong that in order for Indiana Republicans to dilute the power of Democratic voters they must split the state’s most racially diverse county, Shufeldt said.
“If this map were to pass, it surely would be targeted for also being a racial gerrymander,” he said.
Keeping communities together
When states redistrict, leaders often prioritize boundaries that keep together political areas, like counties and townships, and informal communities of interest, where residents are likely to have similar concerns.
Pastor David Greene of Purpose of Life Ministries said that by splitting Indianapolis into four districts, Indiana lawmakers would break apart a community with shared challenges.
While Marion County voters may prioritize public transportation or gun violence prevention, he said, rural voters may be fighting to keep hospitals open.
“Every line on the map represents lives and families and neighborhoods and voices that deserve to be heard,” Greene said. “Those lines shouldn't be manipulated or redrawn just to protect the powerful.”
Indiana’s current districts, approved in 2021, received an “A” grade from the Princeton Gerrymandering Project for being compact and splitting relatively few counties. Senate sponsor Eric Koch (R-Bedford) touted those features at the time the districts were drawn, noting that the map kept together communities like the Lake Michigan shoreline.
“We also set out the aspirational goals of compactness and maintaining communities of interest, and we’ve met those as well,” Koch told colleagues in 2021.
Last month, Koch came out in support of redistricting.
Contact WFYI Education Reporter Dylan Peers McCoy at dmccoy@wfyi.org