INDIANAPOLIS — Could Indiana grow its state footprint and absorb counties from Illinois? It’s the question at the heart of a new commission tasked with exploring taking rural counties from Illinois and bringing them to Indiana.

The Indiana-Illinois Boundary Adjustment Commission was created during the 2025 Indiana legislative session as part of Speaker Todd Huston's agenda. Its goal is to look into whether the state boundaries should be redrawn to put dozens of conservative, rural counties in Indiana instead of Democrat-dominated Illinois.

The six Hoosiers on the commission met for the first time Wednesday for about 90 minutes. Illinois can have five members on the commission, but has not joined. Four people joined virtually to testify, all in favor of leaving Illinois.

In past year

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