PLAYLIST: 'Texas was first, and we believe Indiana will be next,' South Bend Democrats rally against Republican redistricting efforts

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- President Donald Trump is pushing Republicans across the country to redraw congressional maps, aimed at giving the GOP more seats in next year's midterms. Indiana Governor Mike Braun is apparently next to face that pressure.

Local officials and protesters, a lively crowd of several dozen, rallied outside the St. Joseph County Courthouse 2 Thursday in downtown South Bend, opposing these moves they call partisan Gerrymandering. The effort to redraw maps is already underway in other states like Texas.

"We've learned that JD Vance is traveling to Indiana today to meet with Governor Mike Braun," said State Rep. Maureen Bauer (D-South Bend). "The purpose of this visit is clear: to push for an illegal, mid-decade redistricting scheme designed to silence Democratic voices and cement Republican rule."

The vice president is believed to be pushing Gov. Braun to call a special legislative session to redraw Indiana's congressional maps.

"Texas was first, and we believe Indiana will be next," Bauer said. "We only do redistricting once every 10 years after the census; there is no legal precedent for this."

The last Hoosier census was in 2021, so the next redistricting process would start about five years from now.

"So, what are they talking about? They're talking about how they can cheat voters out of more future elections, cheat us out of our constitutionally given rights to representation in fair districts," said Democrat and Portage Township Trustee Jason Critchlow.

"This is not normal, this is not politics as usual," Bauer said. "There is a power grab being planned to take away your voice. And that is not democracy."

Of Indiana's nine U.S. House members, only two are Democrats.

"They don't have to redraw those districts in too crazy of a way to get rid of those two democrats and put in two Republicans," said Dr. Donald Westerhausen, St. Joseph County Democratic Party chair.

"We are saying, 'no redistricting before the census,' which is the legal precedent. Which is what we do every 10 years, not when D.C. politicians tell us to do so," Bauer said.

The rally, which started at 11 a.m., lasted about an hour, with demonstrators like Pam Claeys.

"We're protesting now more than we did in the '70s," she said. "We just cannot have people and our legislators running ragged over our laws."

ABC57's Annie Kate asked Westerhausen if he thinks this kind of rally will have any impact in Indianapolis.

"I'm optimistic because I feel like there are my fellow citizens, who maybe aren't Democratic, but feel that this is a power-grab, and that it's not fair," he said.

Rep. Bauer said she and other democrats are sounding the alarm.

"The governor can call us back, but we also have to have the speaker of the house and the speaker pro tem of the senate on board," Bauer said. "And I'm hoping there will be some cooler heads that will prevail and say, 'this is wrong.'"

Bauer argues there is legal precedent giving them the authority to challenge any redistricting, saying state democrats will do everything they can to fight this effort, allegedly reaching the state.

According to our ABC station in Indianapolis, WRTV, Vance did not answer any questions from the news media about Thursday's visit with the governor. And Braun, who cancelled his media availability, posted to X, saying only that they discussed "a number of issues."