The Indiana Senate voted Tuesday to adjourn till January as its Republican supermajority continues to withstand stress from President Donald Trump to redraw the state’s congressional traces.
Gov. Mike Braun responded by threatening to “compel” the Senate right into a particular session to vote on redistricting at Trump’s behest.
It was the most recent chapter in an escalating intraparty battle in Indiana over the White House’s monthslong effort to bolster the celebration’s US House majority in time for subsequent yr’s midterm elections. Republicans now maintain seven of Indiana’s 9 US House seats, and Trump is looking for new maps that might give the GOP a shot at a 9-0 sweep.
Indiana takes on extra urgency for nationwide Republicans after a federal court invalidated Texas Republicans’ new map that might have given them a greater shot at gaining 5 new seats. While Texas officers instantly moved to enchantment the ruling, dropping that potential five-seat acquire might put the GOP a number of seats behind Democrats within the redistricting battle Trump triggered.
However, regardless of Trump taking to social media this week to threaten to again main challenges to senators who oppose redistricting, there have been no indicators on the statehouse on Tuesday that the opposition would yield.
“I’ve been a legislator 42 years. I’m not going to change my vote,” stated Sen. Vaneta Becker, an Evansville Republican who advised NCS her workplace has obtained greater than 750 calls opposing redistricting and 37 in favor.
“Hoosiers are not used to being sort of in blackmail position. It does not bode well,” Becker stated.
Lawmakers gathered in Indianapolis for “organization day” — the long-planned ceremonial begin to the 2026 legislative session. The Senate voted 29-19 to fulfill again on January 5, a vote that implicitly rejected Braun’s name for a redistricting-focused particular session.
Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray, a Martinsville Republican who infuriated Trump when he issued a press release saying the Senate doesn’t have sufficient votes to cross new maps, advised reporters Tuesday that the adjournment vote was “fairly indicative of the vote that you might have seen” if the Senate had voted on new congressional maps.
Trump this week has threatened to again main opponents to tackle Bray, who isn’t up for reelection till 2028, and different Republicans who opposed redistricting, arguing that they’re standing in the way in which of the GOP retaining its majority on Capitol Hill for the final two years of Trump’s presidency. Braun responded later Tuesday afternoon with a press release backing Trump’s main threats and suggesting he’ll search to pressure the Senate into session to vote on redistricting.
“Unfortunately, Sen. Rod Bray was forced to partner with DEMOCRATS to block an effort by the growing number of America First Senators who wanted to have a vote on passing fair maps. Now I am left with no choice other than to explore all options at my disposal to compel the State Senate to show up and vote,” Braun stated in a press release. “I will support President Trump’s efforts to recruit, endorse, and finance primary challengers for Indiana’s senators who refuse to support fair maps.”
Trump on Monday posted on Truth Social: “A RINO State Senator, Rodric Bray, who doesn’t care about keeping the Majority in the House in D.C., is the primary problem. Soon, he will have a Primary Problem, as will any other politician who supports him in this stupidity.”
Bray on Tuesday stated he has had “a couple conversations” with Trump about redistricting and stated he’s “honored to talk to the president.”
“Frankly, I know that he’s passionate about this issue. I’ve explained to him, as I tried to explain to you guys today, that we want to be helpful. We want to see a Republican majority in the House of Representatives. And this is the best way forward, as we see it,” he stated.
Bray argued that even with out new maps, Republicans have an opportunity to win the first District, a historically blue seat in northwestern Indiana, and maintain eight of Indiana’s 9 House seats.
“A number of our caucus members, myself included, don’t see this as a binary choice between the 7-2 ratio that you have right now and redistricting into an automatic 9-0,” Bray stated.
Trump and his political allies had launched an promoting stress marketing campaign aimed toward forcing the state Senate’s hand.
Some veteran Republican legislators stated the first threats rang hole due to their constituents’ near-unanimous opposition to redistricting.
“Hoosiers are very thoughtful, and I know for myself, I represent my constituents,” Becker stated.
She added that “it’s not a good look for legislators, in my opinion, to kowtow to that.”
But state Sen. Mike Young, a veteran Indianapolis Republican, took to the ground Tuesday to lambast Bray for refusing Braun’s name for a particular session. Young stated it was “a slap in the face of the governor of the state of Indiana to do something like this.”
“Imagine waking up on Wednesday, the day after elections next November, and we find ourselves in the minority by one or two votes … knowing that we have the opportunity to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Young stated. “Elections have consequences, and we won.”