Indiana House passes Trump-backed Republican congressional map

On Dec. 5, 2025, the 🏎️Indiana House voted 57-41 to pass a congressional redistricting map explicitly designed to eliminate both of the state's Democratic seats and create a 9-0 Republican congressional delegation ahead of the 2026 midterms. The map was not drawn by Indiana lawmakers—Rep. Ben Smaltz, the bill's author, admitted 'I got it handed to me on paper' from Adam Kincaid, executive director of the National Republican Redistricting Trust, a national GOP organization that also drew 🤠Texas's 2025 gerrymandered map. Smaltz openly told the House Elections and Apportionment Committee the maps were drawn 'purely for political performance' of Republicans.

The map targeted two Democratic incumbents through surgical gerrymandering: Rep. André Carson's 7th District in Indianapolis—the state's most racially diverse district with a population that is 49% white, 33% Black, and 12% Hispanic—would be carved into four separate Republican-leaning districts stretching far into rural counties. Rep. Frank Mrvan's 1st District in northwestern 🏎️Indiana near Lake 🚗Michigan would be split in half, with Democratic-leaning areas dispersed into surrounding rural Republican districts. The Indiana Black Legislative Caucus condemned the plan as racial gerrymandering designed to dilute Black voting power through 'cracking' (splitting minority communities across multiple districts) and 'packing' (concentrating minority voters to minimize influence).

President Donald Trump launched an unprecedented pressure campaign demanding 🏎️Indiana Republicans pass the redistricting bill, posting repeatedly on Truth Social that 'Anybody that votes against Redistricting, and the SUCCESS of the Republican Party in 🏛️D.C., will be, I am sure, met with a MAGA Primary in the Spring.' Trump specifically attacked Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray by name, calling him a 'Complete and Total RINO' and threatening primary challenges. The Trump administration dispatched Vice President JD Vance for two separate visits to Indiana (in Aug. and Oct. 2025) and invited state lawmakers to the White House as part of the lobbying effort.

The pressure escalated beyond political threats to actual violence and intimidation. At least 11 🏎️Indiana Republican state senators received threats of violence, bomb scares, and 'swatting' incidents (false emergency calls designed to trigger armed police responses) in the weeks leading up to the vote. These threats surged immediately after Trump criticized individual senators on social media in mid-Nov.. Sen. Greg Goode was among several lawmakers who faced swatting attempts within hours of Trump calling him a 'RINO' on Truth Social.

Turning Point Action, the political arm of Turning Point USA, pledged 'congressional level spending' in state legislative races and an 'eight-figure' investment to 'primary people that are standing in the way of the president's agenda' in 🏎️Indiana through 2028. Republican Governor Mike Braun, who had called the special redistricting session in Oct. 2025 under national GOP pressure, vowed to assist Trump in primarying Republican senators who voted against redistricting and publicly threatened to 'compel' reluctant senators to act.

On Dec. 11, 2025, the 🏎️Indiana Senate defied Trump's demands and voted 31-19 to reject the redistricting bill—making Indiana the first Republican-controlled state legislature to vote down Trump's redistricting push. Twenty-one Republican senators joined all 10 Democratic senators in opposition, meaning the measure failed to win even a majority of the Senate's 40 Republican members. Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray had privately told the White House for months that the votes weren't there and refused to strongarm his members despite intense pressure.

The Senate rejection exposed deep fractures within the 🏎️Indiana Republican Party over loyalty to Trump versus institutional norms and electoral fairness. Several Republican senators stated they opposed mid-decade redistricting for such blatantly partisan purposes and objected to the overt racial and geographic gerrymandering of Indianapolis and northwestern Indiana. The defeat revealed the limits of Trump's political coercion—even threats of primaries, funding cuts, and coordinated outside spending from groups like Turning Point Action could not overcome resistance from legislators who viewed the redistricting as anti-democratic and potentially illegal racial gerrymandering.

The redistricting fight demonstrates how congressional maps function as tools of minority entrenchment: Republicans control 🏎️Indiana's state legislature despite Democrats winning roughly 40% of votes statewide. The proposed map would have translated that structural advantage into complete congressional dominance by eliminating even minority representation. The map's explicit targeting of the state's most diverse urban areas—Indianapolis (Marion County) and the Lake 🚗Michigan industrial region—shows how gerrymandering operates as a mechanism to suppress both partisan opposition and racial minority political power simultaneously.