Indiana GOP rejects Trump’s map in major blow to his gerrymandering push
The GOP-controlled state Senate voted down a bill that would have wiped out Indiana’s two Democratic-held seats in the House.
By Adam Wren
12/11/2025 04:38 PM EST
Updated: 12/11/2025 08:17 PM EST
Indiana Republicans withstood immense pressure from President Donald Trump, ignoring anonymous threats on their lives as they defeated his plan to redraw the state’s congressional map and dealt him one of his most significant political setbacks since his return to the White House.
The GOP-controlled state Senate on Thursday voted down 31 to 19 the map that would have gerrymandered two more safe red seats, imperiling the party’s chances at holding control of Congress next November.
The failed vote is the culmination of a brass-knuckled, four-month pressure campaign from the White House on recalcitrant Indiana Republicans that included private meetings and public shaming from Trump, multiple visits to the Hoosier State from Vice President JD Vance, whip calls from Speaker Mike Johnson and veiled threats of withheld federal funds. The hesitant local lawmakers held out in spite of pipe bomb threats, unsolicited pizza deliveries to their personal addresses and swattings of their homes.
“The forces that define (the) vitriolic political affairs in places outside of Indiana have been gradually and now very blatantly infiltrat(ing) the political affairs in Indiana,” Indiana state Sen. Greg Goode, a Republican, said in his floor speech before voting against the measure. “Misinformation. Cruel social media posts over the top pressure from within the state house and outside, threats of primaries, threats of violence, acts of violence. Friends, we’re better than this.”
Speaking Thursday night from the Oval Office, Trump lambasted Bray, who oversaw the defeat of the remapping push.
“Bray, whatever his name is,” Trump said, threatening to “certainly support anybody that wants to go against him,” and reasoning that he had “done a tremendous disservice.”
“It’s funny ‘cause I won Indiana all three times by a landslide, and I wasn’t working on it very hard,” Trump said, despite his team’s well documented involvement in the matter.
Top MAGA allies sounded far more concerned.
Topic: You know it's bad when even your own side says you're WRONG (Read 273 times)