In a powerful reproach to President Donald Trump, the Indiana Senate voted, by a wide margin, against a mid-decade redistricting that would have gerrymandered the state’s congressional maps.
At least 11 GOP lawmakers had received death threats ahead of the vote — a sign of the dangerous extremism that Trump’s backers brought to the battle.
The vote came down to the wire. During Thursday’s debate, Sen. Greg Goode (R) indicated he would vote no by saying he was listening to his constituents, becoming the 15th Republican opposed to the bill. But none of the other remaining swing votes indicated how they’d vote before the final tally.
But in the end, the vote wasn’t even close: 31-19, with 21 Republicans joining all 10 Democrats in opposition. In fact, more GOP Hoosiers voted against the measure than for it.
The proposed map would have targeted Indiana’s two Democratic U.S. representatives to hand all 9 seats to the GOP. Around 45% of Indiana’s party-affiliated voters are Democrats.
The upper chamber debated the bill for three hours ahead of the vote, with opponents appealing to the better angels of Hoosiers’ nature and invoking the Founding Fathers while proponents embraced Machivelli.
“I’d like to point us to Alexander Hamilton, from the Federalist Papers [Nos.] 59 to 61: Election regulations must be stable and free from fractional abuse,” said Sen. Rodney Pol (D). “Indiana’s mid-decade map changes are the kind of factional driven manipulation that Hamilton cautioned us against. We have a responsibility to every voter in the state to preserve one-Hoosier, one-vote.”
“I ask my colleagues — I ask you, and I appeal to you — I firmly believe that we are stronger as Hoosiers before we identify as Republicans or Democrats,” said Sen. Fady Qaddoura (D). “We are stronger as one community when we place Hoosiers’ interest first.”
“Redistricting is about who is in charge,” Sen. Liz Brown (R) said in support. “ Who holds the purse strings — that’s what this is about. Here in this state, we have a Republican governor, we have a Republican supermajority in the House, we have a Republican supermajority currently in this chamber.”
“Some will say these maps are political. Let me be clear,” Sen. Chris Garten (R), another backer, said as he slapped the lectern. “You’re God damn right they are!”
The gerrymander’s Republican opponents faced tremendous pressure from the White House, as Trump repeatedly castigated them online and in media interviews.
Trump made a desperate plea on social media Wednesday night for a yes vote, excoriating Indiana Senate President Pro Tem Roderic Bray (R).
“Bray doesn’t care. He’s either a bad guy, or a very stupid one!” Trump wrote in a 417-word rant. “In any event, he and a couple of his friends will partner with the Radical Left Democrats. They found some Republican “SUCKERS,” and they couldn’t be happier that they did!”
In recent weeks, right-wing political action committees promised to spend millions to punish no-voting Republicans, and on Thursday, the Heritage Foundation’s political advocacy arm promised federal retribution if the state didn’t redistrict.
“President Trump has made it clear to Indiana leaders: if the Indiana Senate fails to pass the map, all federal funding will be stripped from the state,” Heritage Action wrote on X. “Roads will not be paved. Guard bases will close. Major projects will stop. These are the stakes and every NO vote will be to blame.”
Goode addressed this hostility during his remarks Thursday.
“Friends, whether we recognize it or not, whether we accept it or not, the forces that define this [kind of] vitriolic political affairs in places outside of Indiana have gradually, and now very blatantly, infiltrated the political affairs in Indiana: 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,” Goode said. “Friends, we are better than this, are we not?”
Another GOP opponent, Sen. Greg Walker, pointed to the redistricting bill’s provision aimed at shielding the legislation from most state court review and fast-tracking its path to the state supreme court, calling it “unconstitutional.”
While states usually only update their congressional maps once a decade following the census, Trump ignited a mid-decade redistricting war as his polling figures cratered over the summer. GOP lawmakers in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina quickly answered the call. But Indiana Republicans resisted, leaving the outcome of this redistricting fight uncertain until today’s vote.
Earlier in the week, the top election official for Indianapolis’ county warned the redistricting legislation was rife with errors and that passing it would unleash “havoc” on government administrators.
“The conservative estimate for the cost for Marion County alone to redistrict at this time is at least a million dollars,” Kate Sweeney Bell said.
Democrats would need to flip just three seats in the 2026 midterm elections to reclaim control of the U.S. House.