My brand is "centrist." So, I'm appealing here to all the well-connected Republican's who subscribe to this substack. Well-connected Republican friends, call Mr. Alting and Mr. Braun and convince them that 0% Democratic congressional representation from Indiana is ugly and unethical. 0% is the goal and it is anti-democracy. I'm talking directly to you, well-connected Republican that I know personally. And you too, the well-connected Republicans I'm friendly with. Do no violate the trust and support I've offered you.
Interestingly yet not surprising but Gov Braun's contact email link has not worked for at least 24 hours.
Maybe he can pay out of pocket for the up to $500,000 cost for a special session? Or maybe he can get "private interests" to pay for this to cover the costs? Most of the reasonings to redistrict from Hoosier state reps have that I have read are pretty petty.
My feeling has been that if the GOP felt confident that the voters are pleased with the way the country is heading, they shouldn't have to obey outside coercion to redistrict.
Out of Indiana’s 9 Congressional districts, 2 currently have seated Democrats as representatives:
1. District 1 (NW Indiana/Lake County), including the second most populous IN county with strong resident connections to the Chicago area
2. District 7 (Indianapolis/Marion County), includes the most populous IN county and capital city
Per certified 2024 national election results, IN Votes cast were:
Republican: 1.7M (59%)
Democrat: 1.1M (38%)
Other: 2%
The split was very similar for both the presidential election and the IN congressional election.
About 38% of the votes in the 2024 election were for Democratic candidates. That is over a third of Indiana’s popular vote.
And we are to simply dismiss all those voters and dilute them into districts with a higher percentage of Republicans so that IN Democrats now get 0% Congressional representation?
No. That would be extremely inaccurate, disproportionate, misleading, unfair, and unacceptable. It would be wrong.
One other important note to consider: Among other things, voters from larger urban areas have a lived experience that can be very different from many rural areas. They tend to live amongst people of all types and learn about the reality and truth of all those different kinds of people and are not as likely to fall prey to the misunderstandings and inaccurate disinformation and assumptions of people who do not have this kind of broad and direct everyday social experience. This is critical valuable lived experience and insight that can make all the difference in how our society understands and respects and lives alongside each other in the future. We really are all human beings who want and deserve respect, care, reasonable fundamental freedoms, and the right to live in safety without harming others or being harmed. All of us. Democrats and Republicans and everyone else.
The people in these districts need their voices to be heard and represented. All Democrats in our state need to have their voices heard and counted and represented.
The only guiding principle of those who call themselves "conservative" these days is that the Republican Party should have power, and that in order to make that happen Republican politicians should choose their voters rather than letting voters choose the politicians. Their level of entitlement is as extreme as their politics.
There sure as hell isn't anything conservative about redistricting mid-cycle in order to game elections in support of Jeff Epstein's close friend the senile narcissist.
After a couple of days of thought, I have determined that Sen. Alting is frightened that his days in Indianapolis are dwindling. Having watched a throughly GOP representative in Sharon Negele get booted out of office by a far-right winger, Alting is taking his challenger very seriously. Neither will get my vote.
I would humbly suggest that you vote Bagby in the primary. Hoping he wins the nomination over Alting. This area is more moderate and moderates won’t vote for Bagby. They would likely vote for a moderate Democrat, further weakening the super majority.
Gerrymandering uses both packing and cracking. The statehouse R's know this is harder because you can't use packing to get 9-0 (eg sticking us in a district with Gary). I hope these jerks enjoy running in their new purple districts. The hardest part might be keeping Cro-Magnons from winning their primaries.
My brand is "centrist." So, I'm appealing here to all the well-connected Republican's who subscribe to this substack. Well-connected Republican friends, call Mr. Alting and Mr. Braun and convince them that 0% Democratic congressional representation from Indiana is ugly and unethical. 0% is the goal and it is anti-democracy. I'm talking directly to you, well-connected Republican that I know personally. And you too, the well-connected Republicans I'm friendly with. Do no violate the trust and support I've offered you.
Interestingly yet not surprising but Gov Braun's contact email link has not worked for at least 24 hours.
Maybe he can pay out of pocket for the up to $500,000 cost for a special session? Or maybe he can get "private interests" to pay for this to cover the costs? Most of the reasonings to redistrict from Hoosier state reps have that I have read are pretty petty.
My feeling has been that if the GOP felt confident that the voters are pleased with the way the country is heading, they shouldn't have to obey outside coercion to redistrict.
For whomever might benefit from this breakdown:
Out of Indiana’s 9 Congressional districts, 2 currently have seated Democrats as representatives:
1. District 1 (NW Indiana/Lake County), including the second most populous IN county with strong resident connections to the Chicago area
2. District 7 (Indianapolis/Marion County), includes the most populous IN county and capital city
Per certified 2024 national election results, IN Votes cast were:
Republican: 1.7M (59%)
Democrat: 1.1M (38%)
Other: 2%
The split was very similar for both the presidential election and the IN congressional election.
About 38% of the votes in the 2024 election were for Democratic candidates. That is over a third of Indiana’s popular vote.
And we are to simply dismiss all those voters and dilute them into districts with a higher percentage of Republicans so that IN Democrats now get 0% Congressional representation?
No. That would be extremely inaccurate, disproportionate, misleading, unfair, and unacceptable. It would be wrong.
One other important note to consider: Among other things, voters from larger urban areas have a lived experience that can be very different from many rural areas. They tend to live amongst people of all types and learn about the reality and truth of all those different kinds of people and are not as likely to fall prey to the misunderstandings and inaccurate disinformation and assumptions of people who do not have this kind of broad and direct everyday social experience. This is critical valuable lived experience and insight that can make all the difference in how our society understands and respects and lives alongside each other in the future. We really are all human beings who want and deserve respect, care, reasonable fundamental freedoms, and the right to live in safety without harming others or being harmed. All of us. Democrats and Republicans and everyone else.
The people in these districts need their voices to be heard and represented. All Democrats in our state need to have their voices heard and counted and represented.
The only guiding principle of those who call themselves "conservative" these days is that the Republican Party should have power, and that in order to make that happen Republican politicians should choose their voters rather than letting voters choose the politicians. Their level of entitlement is as extreme as their politics.
There sure as hell isn't anything conservative about redistricting mid-cycle in order to game elections in support of Jeff Epstein's close friend the senile narcissist.
After a couple of days of thought, I have determined that Sen. Alting is frightened that his days in Indianapolis are dwindling. Having watched a throughly GOP representative in Sharon Negele get booted out of office by a far-right winger, Alting is taking his challenger very seriously. Neither will get my vote.
I would humbly suggest that you vote Bagby in the primary. Hoping he wins the nomination over Alting. This area is more moderate and moderates won’t vote for Bagby. They would likely vote for a moderate Democrat, further weakening the super majority.
Gerrymandering uses both packing and cracking. The statehouse R's know this is harder because you can't use packing to get 9-0 (eg sticking us in a district with Gary). I hope these jerks enjoy running in their new purple districts. The hardest part might be keeping Cro-Magnons from winning their primaries.
Please send Alting messages at s22@iga.in.gov and/or on his website linked below.
https://www.indianasenaterepublicans.com/alting