Notes on a redistricting Monday
A quick primer as the redistricting debate heads to the Indiana Senate. Plus other notes.
Thanks for ongoing support from Based in Lafayette sponsor Long Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Lafayette. For tickets and details on all the shows and events, go to longpac.org.
A few notes on this Monday …
REDISTRICTING: ON TO THE INDIANA SENATE: The push for redistricting moves to the Indiana Senate Monday afternoon, after clearing the Indiana House on a 57-41 vote Friday. Here are a couple of previews to get acclimated:
From the Indiana Capital Chronicle, Leslie Bonilla Muñiz and Casey Smith report: “About a quarter of Indiana Republican senators have not yet said how they’ll vote on a sweeping partisan redraw of the state’s congressional maps, teeing up an uncertain week for the proposal’s future. The Senate will reconvene Monday afternoon to begin consideration of House Bill 1032, after reversing an earlier decision not to meet. … Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray has warned there are “not enough votes to move that idea forward.” He didn’t return multiple interview requests on how the proposal’s prospects may have changed in recent weeks. Indiana’s Constitution requires a majority of the 50-member Senate to approve legislation. That means the 40-strong Republican supermajority must muster at least 26 votes to pass the bill if all 10 Democrats oppose. GOP Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith can break a 25-25 tie. The redesign would likely eliminate Indiana’s two Democratic-held congressional districts to create a 9-0 Republican map ahead of the 2026 midterm election, as sought by President Donald Trump.” Here’s more: “As Indiana Senate begins redistricting turn, some Republicans keep mum. State police offer more details on investigations into threats against lawmakers.”
Politico reporters Adam Wren and Brakkton Booker set the scene this way: “President Donald Trump’s maximalist, command-and-control approach to the GOP faces one of its most significant tests yet, as a band of stubborn Indiana state Senate Republicans threatens his mid-cycle redistricting scheme when it is expected to come to a vote this week.” For more: “Indiana Republicans threaten to thwart Trump’s redistricting onslaught. The Hoosier State GOP lawmakers are poised to block the president’s mid-cycle redistricting scheme Monday.”
Heading into Monday’s session, the two senators representing Tippecanoe County were split in their public statements on the redistricting effort. Sen. Spencer Deery, a West Lafayette Republican, has been a firm no on the concept since before the maps were released last week, saying last week, “The proposed map also offers a case study in how normalizing mid-cycle gerrymandering empowers mapmakers to eliminate primary challengers.” Sen. Ron Alting, a Lafayette Republican, told BiL after Friday’s vote in the Indiana House: “I remain troubled that these maps split apart long-standing communities in Tippecanoe County that share schools, employers and daily life. I will support advancing the bill when it comes to the Senate, but nothing I’ve seen suggests the votes exist to make it law.” Here’s more:
For a refresher on how the maps would work around here – and they do a number by splitting up Lafayette and West Lafayette, dividing the three school districts and Purdue’s campus and sometimes carving up the middle of neighborhoods – here’s a break down:
Keep track live: The Indiana Senate is scheduled to meet at 12:30 p.m., with the Senate Elections Committee set for testimony at 1:30 p.m. You can watch here: iga.in.gov/session/2026/video/livestreams/senate
A NEW DEAN FOR PURDUE’S COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS: Christopher Yeomans, a Purdue philosophy professor and department head, is the university’s new dean at the College of Liberal Arts. The university announced his appointment on Friday, effective Monday, after a national search launched in May. Yeomans, who has been at Purdue for 16 years, follows David Reingold, who left Purdue to be chancellor at IU’s Bloomington campus.
ICYMI: THE CHRISTMAS PARADE EDITION: Santa was all 6-7, 6-7 down Main Street Saturday for the Greater Lafayette Christmas Parade.
But BiL correspondent Vincent Walter’s photos were anything but mid. Check out this photo gallery from Saturday night.
BUILDING BiL HOLIDAY PLAYLIST: WHAT’S ON YOURS?
Through Christmas, BiL will curate three songs a day from readers. The assignment isn’t necessarily about the best or most iconic songs of the season. Just songs that you’d want in the mix and why they belong. Enjoy.
Angie Klink
Family first kind of person. Happiest when with my sons, their partners and my husband are together with our dog Smidge. And happiest when I am writing a story that can change people’s lives, their ways of thinking, for the greater good. I’m an author and lover of the truth. I was told once that I am a “Holy Troublemaker.” I was flabbergasted by the compliment.
“Let’s Trim the Christmas Tree,” Line Material – As superintendent of Frankfort, Indiana Light & Power, my dad, Jack Lipp, brought home this 45 record circa 1962 when I was 3. I listened to it and sang along every year. I always wondered what it meant by “Line Material.” (A manufacturer of electrical equipment and lighting.) In fact, as an adult when I thought back on the tune, I wondered if I recalled the words correctly. When I looked it up, sure enough I had. The record was a promotional gift to the clients of Line Material, and the company had a different song produced each Christmas from 1956 to 1962. I have such fond memories of childhood Christmas anticipation when I hear this spunky, mid-century tune. It ends with the Mitch Miller-type chorus singing: “Merry Christmas, from Line Material. Merry Christmas, from Line Material.” Here’s the 45 on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/277457483309
“Merry Christmas Darling,” The Carpenters – Music by Richard Carpenter, lyrics by Frank Pooler. Buttery, gorgeous vocal by the great Karen Carpenter. How I loved her voice. This song nearly makes me weep with memories of driving in the snow in my father’s 1972 kelly green Comet Mercury with the black top to Jefferson High School to perform in “Christmas Moods,” the yearly Christmas production of all choral groups with music teacher Dick Jaeger as director.
“Snowfall,” Manhattan Transfer – Another warm memory, this time from the 1990s when my sons were young. Snow falling outside our windows, sons playing in our decorated home, snug as a bug, while I address my Christmas cards. Love, joy, safety and beauty. That’s what this song brings to mind.
Your turn
What three songs are going into your holiday/seasonal playlist this year? If you’re game share, here’s all we need:
Three songs and the artists.
One or two sentences about why you chose each one – could be a memory or a short history or review about why that track belongs in your mix and why you’d recommend it to others.
A little bit about you to let readers know who’s making the picks.
Send to: davebangert1@gmail.com
Thanks, again, for support from the Long Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Lafayette. For tickets and details on all the shows and events, go to longpac.org.
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Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.
What an absolute coward Ron Alting is.
I really don't get Alting's "I think this is bad, but I'm going to vote on it anyway and hope 16 of my colleagues bail me out" position. Does he really think it will protect his right flank come primaries? And what will he do if it's a 25-25 tie and Beckwith votes to pass it?