In a setback for Trump, Indiana lawmakers defeat redistricting plan

The Indiana Senate has voted 31 to 19 against the congressional redistricting called for by President Trump in his attempt to help Republicans win the 2026 midterm elections.

The defeat Thursday in the Indiana Senate, where 40 of the 50 members are Republicans, is the first time Trump’s redistricting campaign has been voted down by members of his own party. Republicans in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina have answered his call for an unusual mid-decade redistricting scramble.

“My opposition to mid-cycle gerrymandering is not in contrast to my conservative principles, my opposition is driven by them,” Republican state Sen. Spencer Deery said during the debate. “As long as I have breath, I will use my voice to resist a federal government that attempts to bully, direct and control this state or any state. Giving the federal government more power is not conservative.”

The move was also opposed by Indiana Democrats, who currently hold just two of the state’s nine U.S. House seats and said it would dilute the voting power of minority communities.

Usually, states redistrict early in the decade after the decennial census count.

The vote came after weeks of political turmoil and some threats

Trump has urged Republican-led states to conduct an unusual, mid-decade redistricting effort aimed at helping Republicans hold onto their majority in the U.S. House in next year’s midterm elections. California Democrats responded with their own redistricting effort but so far red states have gained a few-seat advantage over blue states.

The Indiana vote came after weeks of turmoil and with opposition from some Republicans, who had said their constituents did not want to alter the current districts.

Outside of the chamber ahead of the vote, protesters could be heard chanting “vote no” and “Hoosiers fight fair.”

Indiana Gov. Mike Braun, a Republican, has supported Trump’s call and both of them have threatened to support primary challenges against senators who don’t support redistricting. Amid rising tensions over redistricting in the state, Braun and other Republican lawmakers said they and their families have been the subject of anonymous threats.

As the Senate debated the bill to redistrict, Vice President Vance wrote on X that the Republican Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray had told the administration he wouldn’t fight redistricting but was encouraging votes against it. “That level of dishonesty cannot be rewarded,” Vance wrote. Bray voted no.

Republicans who backed redistricting said it was for political gain to help keep the U.S. House in Republican control and noted that some Democratic-led states have redrawn their districts to favor Democrats in the past.

“Only a handful of districts throughout the United States will determine who controls Congress. We may or may not do our part today to keep our nation in the hands of Republicans and do the right thing for our state,” Republican state Sen. Mike Young told the chamber. “Whether we choose to play the game or not play the game we will determine the fate of our state and country.”

Ben Thorp is a reporter for WFYI. Larry Kaplow is with NPR.