A national Republican group designed Indiana's proposed redistricting map

The new congressional map proposed by Indiana House Republicans was designed by a conservative national redistricting group with deep ties to the Republican Party. 

Over the past few weeks, lawmakers backing the bill that would change Indiana’s nine congressional districts mid-decade shifted their public comments. They initially claimed they had not seen a map but later said they worked with the National Republican Redistricting Trust. 

The Trump administration is exerting pressure on Indiana's Republican-controlled state legislature to enact the changes, which are aimed at flipping the state's two Democratic U.S. House seats.

The proposed map would achieve this by carving up the Democratic stronghold of Indianapolis—currently represented by Rep. André Carson—into four separate Republican-leaning districts, and by diluting Democratic power in Rep. Frank Mrvan's Northwest Indiana district.

The Senate scheduled a final vote on the legislation for Thursday.

“I got it handed to me on paper,” bill author Rep. Ben Smaltz (R-Auburn) said of the map during a hearing on Dec. 5.

Smaltz acknowledged the external help when asked directly. “We worked with the Trust. We worked with [the Legislative Services Agency], like we do on every bill, and worked internally with our staff attorneys.”

The trust is led by Adam Kincaid, a longtime political operative who has worked on Republican redistricting efforts for over a decade. Sen. Mike Gaskill (R-Pendleton), a co-sponsor of the redistricting bill, identified Kincaid as the creator of the proposed map on Monday. Kincaid leads two other affiliated organizations: American Redistricting Project and Fair Lines America, a 501(c)(4).

Those two groups describe themselves as nonpartisan nonprofits dedicated to strengthening the American republic by supporting constitutional redistricting, election transparency, and accountable government.

Collectively, the groups produce redistricting maps, coordinate with state officials, and litigate over redistricting in court.

The National Republican Redistricting Trust and the American Redistricting Project did not respond to requests for an interview with Kincaid.

Co-sponsors of the redistricting legislation, House Bill 1032, have so far shared little information about their relationship with the group. Smaltz did not respond to an interview request through a spokesperson, and a co-sponsor of the bill, Rep. Alex Zimmerman (R-North Vernon), referred WFYI to Smaltz.

During the House vote on Dec. 5, Rep. Robin Shackleford (D-Indianapolis) questioned Smaltz about the trust’s work. Smaltz said the group had used only political data, not demographic data, and that he received the map through his staff.

After the House passed the bill, Sen. J.D. Ford (D-Indianapolis) asked co-sponsor Gaskill about the cost of the map.

“I don’t know what the cost was or who paid. I have no information on that,” said Gaskill. “But for people who are interested in that, I think they will probably have ability to find it out.”

Gaskill, through a spokesperson, declined to comment to WFYI.

Ford noted the organization is not based in Indiana.

“This trust is very problematic to me,” he said to WFYI. “There’s still a lot of questions surrounding, you know, how much money did we pay them?”

Even if the trust produced the map pro bono, Ford said that wouldn’t answer everything. “I think the deeper question is, okay, well, if it’s for free, then where is that money coming from? Because this didn’t just fall from the sky, right? Somebody, I’m sure, is getting billable hours somewhere.”

A WFYI search of state contract and campaign finance data did not identify any transactions that appeared to be related to the group.

The National Republican Redistricting Trust was involved in creating the maps that Texas passed into law. Kincaid testified in October in a lawsuit over Texas’s new map that argued the map targeted minorities, according to the El Paso Times. The Supreme Court upheld the new Texas map earlier this month.

Indiana Democratic lawmakers said the public should know more about the map’s origins.

“I think it’s very egregious because if this is public policy, and the public is supposed to know how this policy — how these maps — came about, then I think it’s crucial that we know who paid for this contract, or who paid for this information, and how it was paid for,” Shackleford told WFYI, “because I think that bears if there’s going to be any bias toward it.”

Shackleford has concerns that by ignoring demographic census data — particularly on race and ethnicity — the map could potentially violate the Voting Rights Act.

The Senate scheduled a final vote on the legislation for Thursday.
 

Contact WFYI data journalist Zak Cassel at zcassel@wfyi.org