# Indiana Senate rejects Trump-backed redistricting push in 31-19 vote
Event date: 2025-12-11
The Indiana Senate has rejected a Republican-backed congressional map that President Donald Trump had pushed lawmakers to adopt, dealing a public setback to one of the mid-decade redistricting efforts designed to strengthen the GOP’s position in next year’s midterm elections. The chamber voted 31-19 against the map, with 21 Republicans joining all 10 Democrats in opposition.
The vote matters because it shows the limits of Trump’s pressure campaign inside a state legislature that had been under intense national attention. According to NBC News, Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other national Republicans made calls, in-person visits and social-media appeals to support a new map that would have favored Republicans and potentially helped them gain two more House seats. Even after the state House approved the map, the Senate refused to follow.
The resistance was not only political. The packet says a number of Indiana lawmakers faced violent threats, swatting attempts and even a pipe bomb threat after the redistricting fight intensified. That security backdrop makes the vote more than a routine legislative disappointment; it shows how polarized and personal the map fight became. Some senators said they were weighing constituent feedback and concerns about dividing communities, not just party loyalty.
State Sen. Greg Goode, one of the Republicans singled out by Trump, said he spent months listening to constituents and did not believe they supported mid-decade redistricting. State Sen. Michael Crider and State Sen. Dan Dernulc both described threats and intimidation, underscoring how the issue had moved beyond ordinary political lobbying. The source packet suggests that fear and harassment may have hardened resistance rather than softened it.
The result is a blow to Trump’s broader effort to influence state-level mapmaking in Republican-led states. Texas, Missouri and North Carolina had already passed maps that favored the party, while other states were moving in similar directions. Indiana’s refusal means Republicans there will not get the full congressional advantage they hoped to secure through redistricting.
Republican Governor Mike Braun said he would work with Trump to support primary challengers to lawmakers who voted no, indicating the political fight is not over even though the immediate vote failed. For Democrats, the result is a rare example of bipartisan resistance to a redistricting push backed directly by the president. For Indiana Republicans, it is a warning that even a strong national message can falter when state lawmakers decide the political and personal costs are too high.
