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What’s Up?
Dear Reader,
It’s December and a lot of Indiana politicos are crossing their fingers and hoping that this week will bring an end to a months long battle over a Trump-led redistricting push … just in time for Christmas.
In this issue, find some updates on that, a few predictions for the 2026 legislative session, and some actions you can take right now!
Sincerely,
Top Stories
A shambolic and inept Trump-led redistricting push has met a brick wall in the form of Hoosier common sense. While it’s come down to the wire, Indiana’s senate continues to grind in its heals. In deep-red Indiana, this is a very big deal — and it shows the degree to which the Trump brand has slipped. Despite spending over 7 figures on ads, texts, calls and mailers, the national actors campaigning in favor of redistricting have consistently failed to mobilize public opinion in favor of the issue. Local pro-democracy groups have continued to run the table on them — perhaps because poll after poll has consistently shown that the issue is legitimately unpopular here.
The Indiana BMV continued its march towards stripping transgender Hoosiers of the ability to get identification that doesn’t forcibly out them in their daily lives. Their November 14th hearing, the second they’ve held, was packed with opponents to this inhumane new rule. Dozens of people offered hours of testimony against it. Nobody spoke in favor. I expect the final rule to be adopted in February, and we’re monitoring that. Once again: there has been no evidence presented that allowing transgender people to have an “M” or an “F” or even an “X” on their ID causes any difficulty for anyone. This is just right-wing trolling on a vulnerable group, and it puts them in harm’s way.
Indiana’s legislative session started early this year. Bills are being filed and committee hearings are already being held. While none of the priority bills that I’m expecting have dropped yet, we’re still monitoring. I’ll be back in early January, after the holiday break, with the blow-by-blow.
Five Things
- The final vote on Indiana’s unfair new maps takes place in the Senate tomorrow, Dec 11th. It’s a good time to make a final push to contact your senator. Indiana Conservation Voters has made that easy – just visit PlayFairIndiana.com to send them a note asking them to oppose mid-cycle redistricting. We’re hearing from opponents of the bill that this outreach is making a difference!
- My friends at Common Cause of Indiana are joining with a number of other pro-democracy organizations for a webinar on redistricting tonight. Plan to attend if you can!
- An ugly anti-immigration bill authored by Senator Liz Brown cleared a critical hurdle this week by passing out of committee. Now would be an excellent time to contact your own lawmakers and let them know you’d like them to oppose SB76.
- Our friends at GenderNexus are participating in Indianapolis Monthly’s #IndyGives challenge and are just a few thousand dollars shy of getting the grand prize (an additional 15k of funding!). Their chief competition, btw, is a pro-life organization that funds pregnancy resource centers in Ukraine.
- Enjoy your holiday season! The fight for sanity, democracy, and fairness for all has been fast, furious, and never ending in 2025. I’m looking forward to a few days of cookies, twinkling lights, and family time. Remember: taking care of yourself is activism. The fight will still be here when we come back.
My Muse
I want to round out 2025 with some thankfulness.
Starting my own political strategy firm seemed like a controversial choice two years ago. It couldn’t be clearer to me today that it was the right choice for my career and for the work.
Many of my subscribers are also people who’ve held me up as I’ve built Creative Political Strategy into a real practice. From the clients who have faith in my guidance, to the network of professional colleagues who’ve supported me, and the friends and family whose faith made it possible for me to take that risk. Especially my husband, Wade Arvizu – he’s never stopped being my best cheerleader.
Nothing worth doing can be done alone. Thank you again, for everything. I’m feeling hopeful about 2026 – change is on the way. Can you feel it?
Happy Holidays!