The Midwestern state of Indiana has rejected a bill to redraw its congressional maps, retreating from President Donald Trump’s redistricting push ahead of the crucial 2026 midterm elections.
Late Thursday afternoon, the Indiana Senate rejected the proposed House districts by a vote of 31-19, despite Republicans holding a majority in the chamber.
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Republicans hold 39 of the 50 seats in the state Senate, and the state has consistently voted Republican in every presidential election since 1968, with the exception of 2008, when Democrat Barack Obama flipped once.
The vote is likely to strengthen the perception that the Republican Party is splitting under Trump’s leadership, as his poll numbers have slumped in the first year of his second term.
President Trump was informed of the results at a signing ceremony in the Oval Office shortly after Indiana’s vote.
“Just a few minutes ago, the Senate rejected the state’s redistricting congressional maps,” one reporter said. “What’s your reaction?”
President Trump responded by touting his success in lifting other Republican-led states.
“We won every other state. That’s the only state,” the president said, before referring to his three presidential races. “It’s funny, even though we won all three times in Indiana, we weren’t working that hard.”
President Trump then went on to criticize Indiana Senate President Roderick Bray and threatened to support a primary challenge to the Indiana leader.
“He’s probably going to lose in the next primary, and I hope so,” Trump said.
“I think it’s within two years, but he’s going to go down. He’s going to go down. Anyone who tries to go against that, I’ll definitely support them.”
Broken bones in caucus
Currently, Indiana sends nine members to the House of Representatives, one for each district. Two of those seats are currently held by Democrats.
But the state’s Republican leaders have proposed new congressional district maps aimed at disenfranchising Democratic voters in the state, paving the way for conservative candidates to win all nine seats in next year’s midterm elections.
The proposed map was part of a nationwide effort by the Trump administration to protect Republican control of the U.S. Congress.
Partisan maps had already been passed in the Indiana House of Representatives. On December 5, the Indiana House of Representatives voted 57-41 to send House Bill 1032 to the state Senate.
The bill had the support of Indiana’s Republican governor, Mike Braun, who encouraged his state senators to follow their House colleagues.
But even before the bill was introduced in the state Senate, rifts were brewing in the Republican caucus. Twelve Republicans in the state Legislature split their ranks and voted against the map.
And some Republican state senators expressed similar reluctance.
Some Republicans, like Indiana Sen. Greg Walker, have a history of opposing redistricting efforts. “I personally cannot support this bill, which would require a legal injunction to be constitutional,” he was quoted as saying in the Indiana Capital Chronicle.
Partisan redistricting has long been controversial in American politics, with opponents calling the practice undemocratic and discriminatory.
Critics also pointed out that Indiana’s proposal would force some voters in urban centers like Indianapolis to commute more than 120 miles to vote in person.
Walker joined a total of 21 Republican state senators, including Bray, on Thursday to vote against the redistricting bill.
Nationwide campaign
But the Trump administration spent a lot of time and effort trying to sway the vote.
In October, Vice President J.D. Vance traveled to the Hoosier State to woo wary Republicans. U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson reportedly personally called state leaders. And on the eve of a critical state Senate vote, President Trump used a mixture of flattery and pressure on social media.
“I love Indiana. I’ve won it six times, including the primary, all by huge majorities,” Trump began his meandering 414-word post.
“Importantly, we now have an opportunity to make a difference in Washington, D.C., in terms of the number of House seats needed to maintain a majority against radical left Democrats. Every other state is willing, openly, and easily redistricting.”
Currently, Republicans hold a narrow majority of 220 members out of a total of 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
But all of those seats will be up for grabs in the 2026 midterm elections, with Democrats hoping to regain control of the chambers.
In June, reports began circulating that President Trump was petitioning the state legislature in Texas, a right-wing stronghold, for redistricting to help conservative candidates win five additional seats.
The Texas Republican Party responded, and in August the state Legislature overcame a walkout from the state Democratic Party to accept a new redistricting map.
Republicans in other states, including Missouri and North Carolina, have followed suit, passing new maps aimed at increasing right-wing support in the midterm elections.
But Democrats fought back. In November, California voters passed a referendum that ended independent district commissions and adopted Democratic-leaning maps drawn by state lawmakers.
But Indiana appeared poised to buck the redistricting trend. In a lengthy post Wednesday, Trump warned that failure to pass new maps could “jeopardize” Republican power if the state fails to pass new maps.
He also called Bray and other Republican breakneck votes “soft spots” for Democrats.
“Rod Bray and his friends won’t be in politics long, and I will do everything in my power to prevent them from harming the Republican Party and our country again,” President Trump wrote.
“Indiana, one of my favorite states, will be the only state in the Union to reject the Republican Party!”
Following Thursday’s defeat, President Trump and his allies stepped up their threat to remove the 21 Republican state senators who voted against the bill.
“I am deeply disappointed that a few misguided state senators joined forces with Democrats to deny this opportunity,” Governor Brown wrote on social media, calling the decision “a rejection of President Trump’s leadership.”
“Ultimately, decisions like this have political consequences, and I will work with the president to challenge these people who do not represent the best interests of Hoosiers.”
