Trump doubles down on redistricting in Indiana even as lawmakers rebuke special session

President Donald Trump is insisting that the redistricting fight in Indiana is not over even as the GOP-led state Senate again refused Tuesday to return to the Capitol this year for a special session to draw new congressional maps.

Divisions among Indiana’s GOP lawmakers were on full display as senators voted to instead convene next for the regular session in January despite the shadow of Trump’s threats to support primary challengers to legislators opposed to redistricting.

Trump has blasted individual senators in social media posts, including Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray, who said last week there weren’t enough votes to pass a redistricting proposal and that the chamber would not meet.

“Soon, he will have a Primary Problem, as will any other politician who supports him in this stupidity,” Trump said of Bray on Tuesday on Truth Social. Bray isn’t up for reelection until 2028, along with half the Senate body.

The vote was the latest show of defiance against Trump and his ally, Republican Gov. Mike Braun, who want Republicans to use their supermajority in both legislative chambers to redraw the state’s congressional boundaries before the end of the year.

While states usually draw new district boundaries every 10 years with the census, Trump wants Indiana and other Republican states to create congressional maps that will favor Republican candidates and give them an easier path to maintain control of the U.S. House in the 2026 elections. The stakes are high since Democrats only need to flip a handful of seats and midterm elections usually favor the party opposite to the one in power.

The blow to Trump’s efforts came as a federal court on Tuesday derailed, for now, his hopes to secure more seats in Texas. A panel of three judges blocked the state from using a new congressional map that would boost Republicans.

Republicans currently outnumber Democrats in Indiana’s congressional delegation 7-2.

Braun suggested in a statement that he is exploring ways to compel the Senate to return in December and take a vote. But his options remain unclear, other than maintaining political pressure on Republicans refusing to go along.

“I will support President Trump’s efforts to recruit, endorse and finance primary challengers for Indiana’s senators who refuse to support fair maps,” Braun said.

Republican infighting

Braun first called for a special session last month and lawmakers initially agreed to meet in early December. That was before Bray’s declaration last week. Senators voted 29-19 Tuesday to reconvene in January instead.

Braun, a first-term governor, said he had a call with Trump Monday.

“This is a slap in the face of the governor of the state of Indiana to do something like this,” state Sen. Michael Young, who favors redistricting, said on the floor Tuesday. Lawmakers were gathered at the statehouse for a ceremonial day that occurs each year before the regular session in January.

Republican Sen. Greg Goode, whom Trump called out by name on social media over the weekend for resisting redistricting, was the victim of a swatting attempt on Sunday. Goode said in a statement Tuesday he will not take a public stance on the topic until he sees an official map.

More state senators have come out against redistricting this week, including a handful of Republicans calling for their party to focus instead on flipping a Democratic seat in northwest Indiana. The 1st Congressional District has been seen as a possible pickup for Republicans in recent years.

“The message from my district has been clear — they do not support mid-cycle redistricting, and therefore I cannot support it,” state Sen. Travis Holdman, who represents a rural district near Fort Wayne, said in a statement Tuesday. “I do not believe redrawing our map will guarantee a 9-0 result.”

It is unclear whether the state House, which does have the votes to take up redistricting, will return in December. Speaker Todd Huston told lawmakers to keep the first two weeks of December open on their calendars. Yet in a statement, Huston said he hopes one day that Congress prohibits mid-cycle redistricting.

“But until that happens, Indiana cannot bury its head in the sand,” Huston said.

Redistricting fight grows

Texas was the first state to kick off the redistricting fight this year. Republicans redrew the state’s congressional map to give the GOP five additional seats. Voters in California recently approved a ballot initiative that would give Democrats five more seats.

Both plans are now mired in legal battles.

Republicans in Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio have all adopted new districts to boost the GOP, while the Democratic-led Virginia General Assembly has taken a step toward redistricting with a proposed constitutional amendment.

Efforts have come up short in the Republican-led Kansas Legislature and in Democratic-led Illinois and Maryland.