Indiana Democrats and Director Emeritus of the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics Andrew Downs said they believe the current supermajority in the Indiana legislature opens the door to unchecked power for the GOP.
A supermajority means one party controls two-thirds of the seats in the chamber.
Downs said the supermajority makes Democrats nearly powerless to reject GOP-backed legislation.
“Even if the Democrats decide they want to be opposed to something, because they’re in the super-minority, the supermajority is able to bring things into session even if no Democrats show up,” Downs said.
The Indiana Democratic Party leadership is touring the state trying to rally support behind an effort to break the GOP supermajority in the House of Representatives. They need to flip four seats to make that happen. Fort Wayne Democratic State Representative Kyle Miller said a recent special election in Alabama proved flipping the four seats is possible.
“In the last couple days, we saw a special election where in a Trump district, a Democrat won by wide margins,” Miller said.
House Minority Leader Phil GiaQuinta, also a Fort Wayne state representative, said while the strategic seats are in Central Indiana, Northeast Indiana has competitive races that could make a difference.
“Where we have competitive districts, Democrats do well,” GiaQuinta said.
Indiana Democratic Party Executive Director Dayna Colbert said the party also wants to break up the GOP supermajority in the Senate, but since there are not as many seats up for election this year, the party is focusing on the House. A party spokesman said they would need to flip eight seats to break that supermajority.
If Indiana Democrats are able to flip four House seats, they would still be the minority party in the chamber, just not the super-minority.