For the second time in a week, a Republican state senator in Indiana was the victim of a swatting attack, as President Donald Trump threatens war on lawmakers in the state who defied his orders to re-gerrymander the congressional districts.
“State Sen. Dan Dernulc, R-Highland, said in a statement that local law enforcement officials were quick to recognize that the swatting attempt for what it was: a false report to law enforcement,” reported the Indianapolis Star. In a statement, Dernulc said, “It is scary and shocking to me that someone would go so far to try to cause harm or fear to me or my family. I have always done my best to serve my community, be their voice, and work alongside them and my colleagues at the Statehouse to help make Indiana a great state. It is sad because of these efforts and work that I am villainized in some minds to the point of harmful retaliation.”
Dernulc is one of a handful of lawmakers who resisted demands from Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Gov. Mike Braun, and the entire GOP congressional delegation of Indiana to reconvene for a session to redraw congressional maps to delete one or possibly both currently Democratic-held seats.
This follows another swatting attack on state Sen. Greg Goode, who had not yet taken any public position on redistricting but said he had to see the proposed map before making up his mind.
The White House spent months trying to whip state legislators in Indiana to move ahead with mid-decade gerrymandering, as Republicans in Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina have already done. However, Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray stated this month that there are too many Republican lawmakers opposed to the idea to move forward.
Trump did not relent from his threats after the first swatting incident on Goode, taking to his Truth Social platform to call Bray “weak and pathetic.”
This comes as Republicans continue to face bad news in their redistricting plot, even in states where they already passed maps. In Texas this week, a federal three-judge panel found the redraw unconstitutionally discriminated based on race and ordered Texas to continue using its previous maps, which state officials have vowed to appeal to the Supreme Court. And in Missouri, voting rights groups are gathering signatures for a referendum that would stop the new map there from taking effect.
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