Indiana Republicans Reject Redistricting Despite Trump’s Primary Threats

Indiana Republicans rebuked President Donald Trump’s calls to pass a new congressional map, voting to keep the state’s current map.

The Indiana state senate voted 19-31 against adopting a proposed map that would have advantaged Republicans in every congressional district in the state.

House Republicans and the White House have aggressively lobbied reluctant state senators to pass the new map to help Republicans maintain a majority in the House in the midterms, testing the administration’s sway over the GOP all the way down to the state Legislature level.

“Anybody that votes against Redistricting, and the SUCCESS of the Republican Party in D.C., will be, I am sure, met with a MAGA Primary in the Spring,” Trump posted Wednesday night on Truth Social.

As recently as this week, House Speaker Mike Johnson was calling hesitant state senators, Politico reported. Indiana Gov. Mike Braun has also threatened to support primary competitions.

Heritage Action posted on X Thursday that the President said if Indiana failed to pass the map, all federal funding would be stripped from the state. But when NOTUS asked a senior White House official if the president had formally called for this, they said, “Not that I’ve seen or heard of,” the official said in a text. “Never heard POTUS say that or direct it.”

Heritage Action did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Indiana’s vote against the proposed map is a major foil to the GOP’s mid-decade redistricting effort. If Maryland and Virginia successfully pass new maps in favor of Democrats, then both parties will gain nine seats, between redistricting efforts in California, Utah, Texas, North Carolina, Missouri and Ohio, effectively nullifying the new lines.

State lawmakers rejected what would have likely been a 9-0 advantage for Republicans in the state. That map would have drawn out Democratic Reps. André Carson and Frank Mrvan’s districts.

Indiana Republicans were facing a barrage of outside spending around this redistricting push.

The conservative group Club for Growth spent about $425,000 in Indiana on pro-redistricting advertising and phone campaigns.

Other national fundraising groups have also poured money into getting the map over the finish line. That includes money that could come into play in possible primaries; Fair Maps Indiana Action created a super PAC that pledged to spend seven figures to recruit candidates to challenge dissenting members in their primaries. The PAC’s team includes Trump campaign advisers Chris LaCivita and Marty Obst.

Turning Point Action, the political arm of Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA, has also vowed to pour money into Indiana statehouse primary races.

Lawmakers also faced physical threats; Republican state Rep. Ed Clere was the victim of a bomb threat as recently as last night, the IndyStar reported. At least a dozen lawmakers, mostly state Senate Republicans, said they were targets of swatting attempts and bomb threats meant to intimidate them.

Republicans who joined Democrats to strike down the map focused on the local consequences of a new map. They said constituents did not ask for new lines and that the proposed districts would include municipalities that have different priorities from each other.

“Like a super majority of you, I do not want to see another Democrat speaker of the house. But that isn’t for me to decide,” said Sen. Spencer Deery, who voted no on the bill. “It’s time to say no to pressure from Washington DC. It’s time to say no to removing accountability from elected officials. It’s time to say no to outsiders who are trying to run our state.”

Democrats in the state are thrilled their Republican colleagues bucked the political winds.

“Today marks the end of a battle. The Indiana General Assembly has rules. Redistricting happens every ten years. These rules are not obstacles,’ said Indiana Democratic Party Chair Karen Tallian. “They are safety nets. Upholding the rules is not an act of weakness – it is an act of responsibility: maintaining the integrity of the process and preserving the legitimacy and credibility of the institution. Today, that’s what my former colleagues did by rejecting this partisan sideshow.”

Indiana’s Republican representatives in Congress have been supportive of a new map and urged their state senators to pass it.