Indiana Republicans Push Back on Trump’s Redistricting Effort, Saying They Lack the Votes To Eliminate Democratic Districts

Indiana Republicans are not moving forward with President Trump’s redistricting effort for the moment, citing lack of support for redrawing maps within the state senate’s Republican majority. If the lawmakers hold firm, it would mark the first major pushback to Mr. Trump’s attempts to gerrymander Republican states ahead of the 2026 midterms. The president and his team have aggressively been pushing GOP-led states to redraw their maps to eliminate Democratic districts and give him a cushion to keep the House next year. Speaker Mike Johnson currently has just a three-seat majority in the chamber, though redrawing maps could significantly improve his chances of holding on to the gavel. So far, Texas and Missouri have passed new maps that would likely net Republicans six additional seats if voting patterns in the last election hold up in 2026 and beyond. North Carolina’s legislature is now considering a measure to redraw maps, giving the GOP a much better chance at flipping a district currently represented by a Democrat. That bill is expected to pass on Wednesday afternoon. In a statement Wednesday, a spokeswoman for Indiana state senate president pro tempore Rodric Bray confirmed that the GOP will not be moving forward with the redistricting effort at this time. The president had hoped that the legislature would redraw the state’s maps in order to eliminate two blue seats. “The votes aren’t there for redistricting,” Mr. Bray’s communications director, Molly Swigart, tells the Sun. The news of the redistricting impasse was first reported by Politico on Wednesday. Vice President JD Vance has been intimately involved in the push for Indiana to redraw its maps this year. He has traveled to the state twice in recent months to meet with legislators and Governor Mike Braun, who is supportive of the effort. The governor was mulling plans to call the legislature back into special session in order to consider redrawing districts, though it is unclear if he will still do so. Mr. Braun’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mr. Vance has been complaining about the gerrymandering efforts that have plagued the northeastern parts of the United States that he says give Democrats an unfair advantage in that region. While it is true that New England — which currently sends zero Republicans to the House — is gerrymandered to favor Democrats, independent studies have confirmed that the GOP has a nationwide redistricting advantage that favors the party in Congress. “This is really something. New England’s six states vote about 40 percent Republican, and have literally zero Republican representatives in Congress,” Mr. Vance wrote on X last week, including a photo of New England’s congressional districts. The redistricting wars kicked off over the summer, when Texas redrew its maps to gain what the party hopes will be five new GOP seats in the House. The party was able to do so with the help of a letter from the Department of Justice, which stated that Texas had the right to do mid-decade redistricting because of “unconstitutional racial gerrymanders.” Following that move by Texas, the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, proposed that the legislature initiate a statewide ballot initiative to empower it to gerrymander the state. Voters will decide in November if Democrats’ will have the power to do so. Other blue states have threatened to redraw their maps, though it is unclear if they will do so before the 2026 midterms. New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, has declared “war” on the GOP for their redistricting effort, though legal hurdles prevent her from redrawing maps before next year. Democrats have also turned their eyes to Colorado and Illinois as potential states where gerrymandering could be deployed.

Indiana Republicans Push Back on Trump’s Redistricting Effort, Saying They Lack the Votes To Eliminate Democratic Districts

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