The Indiana Senate failed to pass a new redistricting map on Thursday that would have helped Republicans to win more seats in the midterm elections next year, which comes as a major hit to President Donald Trump’s plan to ensure the GOP held a greater majority control over Congress. The failure comes as the president poured heavy pressure on state lawmakers to approve the new lines.
The measure failed in the state’s upper chamber by a 19-31 vote. A total of 21 Republicans joined forces with Democrats to shoot down the new map. So thrilled was the opposition with the results of the vote that applause erupted in the chamber. While the results of the vote aren’t completely unexpected due to the skepticism of many Indiana senators, the fate of the redistricting effort in the Hoosier state is now caught in limbo.
The skepticism of certain senators began to take center stage during the session, growing in intensity as the proceedings moved forward. Indiana state Sen. Spencer Deery, a Republican said, “Make no mistake, I, like many of those who will join me in voting no today, are constitutional fiscal and religious conservatives.”
“What that means to me is that I believe in conserving the values, the culture and institutions that created American exceptionalism,” Deery continued. “My point is that my opposition to mid-cycle gerrymandering is not in contrast with my conservative principles,” he added, giving a brief summary of his credentials within the conservative movement. “My opposition is driven by them.”
According to The Hill, other members of the GOP took an opportunity to plead with their colleagues to reconsider voting no on the redistricting effort. “Please, stand up and fight for your people the way they fight for theirs,” state Sen. Mike Gaskill, a Republican who serves as the chair of the Indiana Senate Committee on Elections said, making a reference to Democrats.
The report goes on to point out that the defiance of state Republican lawmakers to get on board with President Trump’s plan could lead to unintended consequences for the Republican Party going into the 2026 midterms, such as a civil war within the GOP that could cause deep divides at a time when Republicans have never so desperately needed to be unified.
President Trump has promised to primary any state Republican senators who didn’t cast a vote in favor of the new map. Allies of the president shredded the vote, saying they were going to follow through with their promise to challenge those in opposition to the effort.
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