Garcia Wilburn reacts to the House passage of gerrymandered congressional maps

Today, Dec. 5, the Indiana House majority passed House Bill 1032, a gerrymandered congressional map, after months of pressure from Washington, D.C. The map carves up like-minded communities to give one faction of the Republican Party an advantage in all nine of Indiana’s congressional elections, a sentiment that was disclosed fully by the bill’s author. HB 1032 heads to the Senate for their consideration next week. 

State Rep. Victoria Garcia Wilburn (D-Fishers) released the following statement: 

"As an elected official, my job is to listen to the will of the people, not the desires of one particular political party. I was disappointed to hear the author of HB 1032 repeat over and over that the majority's intent was to redraw Indiana's congressional districts 'purely for political performance' of the Republican Party. The bill author repeated variations of this phrase to enter into the legal record a perception that these maps fall squarely in with the Supreme Court of the United States' Rucho v. Common Cause ruling that partisan gerrymandering is acceptable.

"In response to that, I’ll share a piece of advice that my father has shared with me for as long as I can remember: 'Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.'

"The Founding Fathers created our great constitution in part to preserve a permanence of differences in a free society. This is why all states, no matter their population size, have two U.S. Senators representing them, as well as a number of U.S. Representatives representing them proportional to the most recent U.S. Census. A permanence of differences…9-0 congressional maps blatantly in favor of one faction of the Republican Party are hardly a display of the constitutional spirt of a permanence of differences. When you consolidate power, you threaten liberty. Alexander Hamilton was concerned that an unprincipled man would mount the horse of popularity, incite citizens to betray the American experiment and throw things into confusion. And here we are, staring at the doorstep of what one of our cherished forefathers warned us against.

"I voted no today because I have received nothing short of an outpouring of calls and emails from constituents over the past five months opposing this proposal. For constituents wondering what happens next, I encourage you to reach out to your state senator to share your thoughts on the maps as the state senate will consider them next week."