Republicans across the U.S. are redrawing political maps to try and increase the party’s chances of securing congressional seats in the 2026 midterms. But in one deeply-GOP state, that gerrymandering plan has met unlikely resistance—to President Donald Trump’s chagrin.
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“I love the State of Indiana, and have won it, including Primaries, six times, all by MASSIVE Majorities,” Trump posted on Truth Social late Wednesday. “Unfortunately, Indiana Senate ‘Leader’ Rod Bray enjoys being the only person in the United States of America who is against Republicans picking up extra seats, in Indiana’s case, two of them. He is putting every ounce of his limited strength into asking his soon to be very vulnerable friends to vote with him.”
Rodric Bray, the state’s Senate President Pro Tempore, has been in Trump’s crosshairs in the past—the President had called him a RINO (“Republican In Name Only”)—as he leads the intraparty dissent against redrawing Indiana’s congressional district maps. Trump has been pressuring the state for months to do so, and a redistricting bill passed in the state House last week, sending the issue to the Senate. But it may stop before GOP senators led by Bray, who said there weren’t enough votes to pass it despite a party supermajority.
The resistance tested Trump, who reiterated the importance of redrawing such maps to protect a narrow GOP majority in the House. The President said on Truth Social that Bray’s pushback puts the Republican House majority “at risk and, at the same time, putting anybody in Indiana who votes against this Redistricting, likewise, at risk,” adding that Hoosiers, who carried Trump by 19 points in the 2024 elections, would not want Democrats to “succeed” in Washington.
“Bray doesn’t care,” Trump said. “He’s either a bad guy, or a very stupid one!”
The President, in his post, also repeated his threats to GOP lawmakers who did not stick to his wishes, saying that anybody who rejects redistricting efforts will be “met with a MAGA Primary” next year, though Bray won’t be on the ballot until 2028. “Rod Bray and his friends won’t be in Politics for long, and I will do everything within my power to make sure that they will not hurt the Republican Party, and our Country, again,” the President said.
But the resistance may eventually fall through. Speaking to reporters Monday, Bray reiterated that he wasn’t in favor of redistricting, but he no longer said that enough votes could junk it. “We’re all going to find out together on Thursday,” Bray said, referring to when the state’s upper chamber is set to vote on the redrawn maps. To pass, the measure must get more than 25 votes.
Why Republicans are resisting
The proposed new Indiana maps, which was released by the Indiana House on Dec. 1 and could replace the 2021 version currently in use, should have been a slam dunk for Republicans. It effectively weakens the state’s 1st and 7th districts, which are represented in the U.S. Congress by Democrats Rep. Frank Mrvan and Rep. André Carson—the only Black member of the state’s congressional delegation. Under the new map, Marion County, where the state capital Indianapolis is, will be split into four. The author of the state’s redistricting bill, state representative Ben Smaltz, has admitted that the maps were redrawn “purely for political performance” of Republicans.
But some local officials have said redistricting close to the 2026 primary will “create chaos,” citing huge expenses in ensuring that voter registration systems are updated to reflect the redrawn maps and that voters are duly informed of the changes. “It would put a great deal of stress on the election system,” Kate Sweeney Bell, clerk of Marion County, said, according to Axios. “That pushes away poll workers, causes longer lines at polling locations, frustrates voters, and ultimately sows distrust in the process.”
It’s also not as if Indiana voters want Republicans to redistrict mid-decade. An August poll found that a majority of them oppose it, and some voters have expressed concern that the new map also diminishes their representation as lawmakers would have to cover a wider, more varied geography. Another poll released in November found that many Indiana voters would instead want state lawmakers to focus on voter issues like property taxes and energy bills.
There’s also concern that the new maps would be “a dilution of Black votes,” given that Carson may lose his U.S. congressional seat after redistricting.
One analyst wrote for the Indiana Capital Chronicle that even with Trump and Republican Gov. Mike Braun pushing for redistricting, state lawmakers may find their political careers in jeopardy if they go ahead with the plan, which would be “breaking faith with Hoosier voters.”
In October, the GOP Senate leadership announced that it did not have the votes in the chamber to advance the redistricting effort, despite Trump himself and his allies reaching out to them. Bray issued a statement the following month reiterating the lack of votes in favor, saying state Senate Republicans “have given very serious and thoughtful consideration” to the plan.
To state senator Mike Bohacek, there’s also a personal element: his vote against redistricting came in response to Trump’s use of the word “retarded” to describe Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in the President’s Thanksgiving message. Bohacek, whose daughter has Down syndrome, is an advocate for persons with intellectual disabilities, and posted on Facebook that Trump’s “choice of words have consequences.”
Some GOP state senators, however, are in favor of redrawing the maps. Indiana Lieutenant Governor and Senate President Micah Beckwith also posted, “The people of Indiana did not elect a Republican supermajority so our Senate could cower, compromise, or collapse at the very moment courage is required.”
In an interview with Politico Magazine after the November announcement, Bray said that the changes Trump wants in Indiana have lasting, potentially harmful effects. Instead, Bray said the GOP should focus on securing a specific seat without taking shortcuts.
“It’s absolutely imperative that we’re able to do hard things here, and in order to do that, to do hard things that maybe not everybody agrees with and maybe even some people get really angry about,” Bray said of the Senate. “They have to have trust in the institution.”
The effect of Indiana’s redistricting debate
The state’s debate over redistricting has become contentious and politically charged to the point where its lawmakers have faced threats. Bohacek reported a bomb threat in his home, while state senator Jean Leising said her house became the target of a pipe bomb threat as “a result of the D.C. political pundits for redistricting.” State senator Greg Goode, whom Trump also criticized on Truth Social, became the victim of a “swatting”—where false reports of danger are used to deploy law enforcement to a target in an attempt to intimidate them. Other senators also reported similar swatting incidents.
Should the measure fail in the Senate, the political backing to boot out the Republicans who rejected it is likely to get a boost. Braun has said that a failure “means you’re gonna have to clean house to get real conservatives in.” Turning Point Action, the political arm of the organization led by the assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk, had said that it was “willing to throw more money and resources into these primary races than some congressional races.”
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