Indiana GOP rejects Trump’s map in major blow to his gerrymandering push

Indiana Republicans have withstood immense pressure from President Donald Trump — and ignored threats on their lives — to defeat his plan to redraw the state’s congressional map, dealing him one of his most significant political setbacks since his return to the White House.

The GOP-controlled state Senate on Thursday voted down the map that gerrymandered two more safe GOP seats, undercutting the party’s chances at holding control of Congress next November.

The failed vote is the culmination of a brass-knuckled four-month pressure campaign from the White House on recalcitrant Indiana Republicans that included private meetings and public shaming from Trump, multiple visits from Vice President JD Vance, whip calls from Speaker Mike Johnson and veiled threats of withheld federal funds.

The members held out in spite of pipe bomb threats, unsolicited pizza deliveries to their homes, and swattings of their homes.

It’s a major setback for the president as well and a blow to his party’s hopes of gerrymandering their way to a House majority in 2028 — and it set off alarm bells with top MAGA allies.

“We have a huge problem,” said former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, who simulcasted The War Room show live from a suburban Indianapolis hotel to boost support for redistricting. “People have to realize that we only have a couple opportunities. We’ve got a net five to 10 seats. If we don’t get a net 10 pickup in the redistricting wars, it’s going to be enormously hard, if not impossible, to hold the House.”

The failed vote saves the seats of two sitting members, Democratic Reps. André Carson and Frank Mrvan, whose districts had been carved up to become heavily Republican under the proposed map.