INDIANAPOLIS — Senate Democratic Leader Shelli Yoder (D-Bloomington) released the following statement on the behalf of the Senate Democratic Caucus after Senate Republicans reversed course and agreed to return in December to consider new congressional maps:
“Hoosiers watched something dangerous unfold today. Senate Republicans looked directly at their constituents and said, “we heard you, but we will not listen to you.” This after Senate Republicans publicly stated multiple times their constituents do not want our maps rigged. They said the votes were not there. They said this entire push was tearing our state apart and Hoosiers care far more about not being able to afford everyday life than they do political games. And yet the moment Donald Trump intensified his bullying campaign, they caved.
“This is what it looks like when D.C. billionaires win and the people lose. When the loudest voice in Washington can scream ‘jump!’ and Indiana’s leaders answer dutifully ‘how high?’ even when every signal from actual Hoosiers points the other way.
“It raises a simple but devastating question: If Republicans will ignore their own voters to please Trump on something as serious as redistricting, what else will they ignore Hoosiers on? Will they ignore Hoosiers as utility companies price families out of heating their homes, ignore parents who cannot find affordable child care to stay in the workforce, ignore renters and home owners being pushed aside by out of state investors, and ignore the families watching health premiums climb higher than their paychecks because insurance companies keep hiking costs?
“Our democracy does not survive when fear becomes policy. It does not survive when a state abandons its own people to serve the ambitions of one man. It does not survive when politicians cheat to win, cutting voters completely out of the process.
“Hoosiers don’t cheat. They believe in accountability. They expect courage from their leaders, not surrender. Senate Democrats will show up on Dec. 8 and every day after to defend this state from being strong-armed into rigging its own maps—from erasing the actual votes of Hoosiers—because Hoosiers deserve a government that answers to them and only them.”
