Rep. Jim Lucas visited the White House on Aug. 26, taking this selfie with a portrait of President Donald Trump at a Butler, Pennsylvania rally after an attempted assassination on the campaign trail. (Photo from Lucas’ Facebook)
One of Indiana’s first Republican lawmakers to declare opposition to mid-cycle redistricting is “now a rock solid HELL YES.”
Seymour Rep. Jim Lucas announced his reversal on Facebook and X just two weeks after he and his colleagues met with President Donald Trump’s administration on redistricting — and within hours of the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Rep. Heath VanNatter, R-Kokomo. (From Indiana House Republicans)
Trump is pushing GOP-led states like Indiana to redraw maps ahead of the 2026 midterm elections to ensure a Republican majority in the U.S. House for the rest of his second term. Redistricting is typically only done after the decennial census.
Lucas’ endorsement prompted criticism from Kokomo Rep. Heath VanNatter, a fellow member of the Indiana House’s GOP caucus.
“I knew you would fold,” VanNatter wrote. “Maybe you should keep your powder dry next time.”
Lucas replied that he “made a damn good case” against redistricting and “stand(s) by” his position at the time. He previously called the idea “highly unusual and politically optically horrible,” and pushed for electoral wins “the old-fashioned way.”
But after the D.C. trip and Kirk’s death, Lucas explained, “I have ZERO problem to publicly come out and explain my changed position.”
VanNatter responded by quoting Lucas’ own words — “hard no” and “dangerous precedent” — back at him, adding, “I assumed that meant that you opposed (mid-cycle redistricting) but I guess I don’t know what those words mean.”
He mocked Lucas’ phrasing and called the change “a real weird and quick flip flop.”
VanNatter hasn’t made his own position explicit, however.
Lucas didn’t respond. Instead, on Thursday morning, he posted a lengthy explanation of his reasoning to Facebook.
It wasn’t the killings of Kirk in Utah or a Ukrainian refugee in North Carolina, he wrote. Instead, it was his own back surgery.
Lucas lauded the Indiana Spine Hospital for being physician-owned and patient-focused at lower prices: “THIS is the way healthcare should be.”
If Democrats take control of the House, he wrote, “places like this might go under” and the rest of Trump’s reforms “will be dead in the water.”
“We owe it to ourselves and future generations to give Trump this reform possibility, because the status quo from both parties is destroying America,” Lucas concluded. “THAT is why I’m a hell yes on redistricting.”
Hoosier House Republicans met to discuss mid-cycle redistricting in mid-August and are set to meet again virtually on Friday. Their Senate counterparts caucused Wednesday.
Pro-redistricting texts sent by the conservative-leaning Forward America started going out again this week, even as a coalition of voting-rights advocates delivered a stack of nearly 9,000 signatures from anti-redistricting Hoosiers.
Meanwhile, Gov. Mike Braun has pointed out blue states with gerrymandered maps but has refused to take a firm stance on the topic. He is waiting for legislative leadership to indicate if a special session should be called.
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