In politics (but not basketball), Kentucky should follow Indiana’s lead | Opinion

Imagine that today is the NCAA final. Amazingly, UK and UofL have both made it through the March Madness gauntlet and they’re slated to face off at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Ticket sales show that 60% of the seats were sold to Louisville fans and 40% to Kentucky fans. So we all know the crowd might lean red, but Big Blue Nation will still have a loud presence. What does this have to do with redistricting?

Well, imagine that when the doors open, Louisville’s bench is waiting there and deciding who gets to enter – they turn away a bunch of UK fans, enough that now 78% of the arena will be on their side.

Indiana’s map already skews GOP, but Trump wanted more

This is where Indiana’s U.S. congressional map stands right now: about 60% of Hoosiers voted for Republicans in 2024, but they make up 78% of Indiana’s congressional representation in Washington.

Donald Trump wanted to increase that to 89% or even 100%. This pressure campaign came in the middle of a decade, with no census to support a change, even though that is the normal process. That would be the basketball equivalent of the Louisville players escorting every UK fan out during halftime. If you were wearing blue in that arena, you would be furious. Or even if you’re just a fan of fair play — even if your team was the one filtering the crowd.

Because in basketball, as in democracy, you shouldn’t get to move the goals — or block the doors — once the game’s already started. You don’t choose which fans show up. You play for everyone who puts their butts in the seats, whether they’re cheering for or against your team.

The Indiana Senate believes in fair play

This isn’t abstract anymore. Earlier this month, Indiana’s proposed mid-decade map passed the state House by a 57-41 vote, before it ultimately failed in the state Senate.

President Trump and his allies are trying to whitewash the result, blaming it on a small group of radical Republican defectors, but this undercuts the truth: the majority of Republicans in the Indiana Senate rejected this bill.

They rejected the idea that 40% of the state should be unrepresented in Washington. Out of 50 state Senators, all 10 Democrats opposed the bill and they were joined by 21 out of 40 Republicans for a final vote of 31-19 against redistricting. As other states are still considering their own chess pieces and weighing their own redistricting battles, we can see that this pressure campaign is real, the process is advancing, and the only thing slowing it down is public resistance and a handful of legislators who still think rules matter.

If it can happen in Indiana, it can happen here

As someone who has spent years following voting rights and redistricting issues in Kentucky and across the country, I’ve learned that the biggest threats to democracy often start quietly — and close to home.

Kentuckians have been far too complacent. We need to wake up and realize that this is not some distant problem: Republicans currently hold supermajorities in both Kentucky chambers. Nothing would stop them from breaking up District 3, which serves Jefferson County and consistently votes overwhelmingly for a Democrat. We just saw this play out: the failed Indiana map split Indianapolis among four mostly rural districts, where Republican constituents have very different concerns than urban and suburban voters around the capital.

Republicans already carved Kentucky up in 2022, in part to make sure James Comer can live comfortably in Frankfort, far away from his constituents. That same 2022 map also cracked the central Kentucky region, diluting the representation of hundreds of thousands of residents by shifting these counties across multiple districts. A Franklin Circuit Court judge already struck down our current map due to extreme partisan gerrymandering – only for the state Supreme Court to later reinstate it – showing just how close to home this issue is.

Call your legislators before they change the rules again

It is time for Hoosiers and Kentuckians of both parties to call their state representatives and fervently oppose all forms of gerrymandering and mid-decade redistricting. We need commitments to common sense and fair play, not more hyper-partisan national politics in our neighborhoods.

In Kentucky, you can always reach your state legislators at 1-800-372-7181. In Indiana, Hoosiers can contact their legislators to thank (or criticize) them for their vote through the Indiana General Assembly’s constituent portal.

If you have to change the rules mid-game to win, you haven’t really won anything.

Eric Ruppel is a software product manager and civic enthusiast based in Louisville. Originally from Richmond, he holds degrees in economics, international diplomacy, and finance. Eric writes on constitutional history and democratic resilience and serves on the Educate Committee for Kentucky Citizens for Democracy.