Sen. Deery Talks Gerrymandering

When I was a candidate for the position I now hold, I promised voters I would always tell them the truth, even if it wasn’t what they wanted to hear. That means I study the issues as impartially and honestly as I can, and then do what seems right.

In today’s newsletter, I want to bring you up to speed on one of those issues.

The background is that Indiana law requires the state legislature to update our U.S. Congressional District boundary maps every 10 years. Throughout history and in virtually every case, states do this only once a decade because without new Census data, there is nothing to update, and the process is expensive and time consuming.

Indiana has been using the current maps since 2023 so they are still new, and the population estimates are unchanged. Even though Republicans already fill seven of Indiana’s nine congressional seats, partisans from outside the state want the state legislature to spend your money inventing new maps that will stack the elections to make these districts move favorable to the current majority party in Washington D.C.

While I am hopeful we will not incur the taxpayer expense of a special session, I want to be clear about how I feel about this out-of-state pressure.

I took an oath before God to support the Constitution. There is no constitutional principle more basic than popular sovereignty and the idea that voters choose their leaders and shape their own destiny.

While any gerrymandering can arguably violate that principle, what we are being asked to do goes far beyond the partisan map fights that happen every 10 years across the country. Rationalizing a mid-cycle redistricting by saying, ‘Democrats gerrymander too’ is an empty and irrelevant excuse.

Instead, we are being asked to create a new culture in which it would be normal for a political party to select new voters, not once a decade — but any time it fears the consequences of an approaching election. That would clearly violate the concept of popular sovereignty by making it harder for the people to hold their elected officials accountable and the country would be an uglier place for it.

If a special session is called, I will stay true to my oath of office by standing up for the principle that candidates should win on the strength of their ideas and not on their ability to choose new voters.

*  *  * Thanks to our state’s strong record of fiscally conservative governance, Indiana continues to have a stable financial outlook.

We have sustained this outlook by maintaining adequate reserves, property debt management and low debt service costs, and our state’s cash balances will remain strong due to the responsible budget passed this year.

Our pension liability will also remain manageable and has continued to decline due to our proactive, sizable annual contributions.

These budgetary practices provide Indiana with the high financial flexibility to adjust to changes in revenue and expenses.

Through the state’s hard work maintaining conservative fiscal principles, Indiana has maintained the low cost of living and an affordable housing supply that make the state a great place to live.