{"id":13259,"date":"2025-09-14T16:31:38","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T16:31:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/kirks-death-reinvigorates-republicans-redistricting-race\/"},"modified":"2025-09-14T16:31:38","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T16:31:38","slug":"kirks-death-reinvigorates-republicans-redistricting-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/kirks-death-reinvigorates-republicans-redistricting-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Kirk\u2019s death reinvigorates Republicans\u2019 redistricting race"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

President Donald Trump\u2019s already brass-knuckled push for red-state redistricting is taking on an increasingly apocalyptic valence among MAGA stalwarts following the killing of Charlie Kirk.<\/p>\n

Inside an Embassy Suites ballroom in suburban Indianapolis this weekend, Sen. Jim Banks\u2019 inaugural Hoosier Leadership for America Summit drew hundreds of attendees who came to hear from next-generation MAGA figures ranging from Alex Bruesewitz, a top Trump adviser and longtime friend of Kirk\u2019s, to GOP strategist Alex DeGrasse.<\/p>\n

The summit marked the first official MAGA gathering since Kirk\u2019s death and served as both a Kirk memorial and redistricting rally, unfolding amid an increased security footprint and ubiquitous police presence throughout the conference center.<\/p>\n

Between musical interludes featuring Jason Aldean\u2019s \u201cFly over States\u201d and \u201cTry That In a Small Town,\u201d MAGA leaders spoke of \u201cdemons\u201d at work behind the shooting of Kirk and the stabbing of Iryna Zarutska and \u201cthe righteous versus the wicked.\u201d An attendee who posed a question to Banks wondered whether Kirk\u2019s killing \u201clifted the veil between good and evil.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t a political battle anymore,\u201d said Bruesewitz, who spoke to the crowd with visible emotion about his friendship with Kirk dating back to their teens, and recalled their last dinner together in South Korea just days ago. \u201cIt\u2019s a spiritual battle.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of it presaged a coming national political hardening on the right with Kirk\u2019s killing as the raison d’etre. More than any other issue at the conference, Kirk\u2019s death seeped into the rationale for mid-decade redistricting.<\/p>\n

In the final weeks of his life, Kirk underscored the argument for that push in Indiana: He posted to X<\/u><\/a> last month Turning Point would<\/u><\/a> \u201csupport primary opponents for Republicans in the Indiana State Legislature who refuse to support the team and redraw the maps.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bruesewitz in an interview with Blue Light News on the sidelines of the summit said he initially considered asking Banks\u2019 team to cancel the event in light of Kirk\u2019s killing. But he decided to push ahead, recalling a message from White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. \u201cShe said, \u2018Do not let your words or your voice get softer, speak out now more than ever,\u2019\u201d Bruesewitz recalled.<\/p>\n

Bruesewitz made the case to still-hesitant Hoosier lawmakers for a congressional map that delivers Republicans all nine Indiana districts, carving up Democratic-held areas in Indianapolis and Northwest Indiana.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey need to recognize what time it is in our country,\u201d Bruesewitz told Blue Light News. \u201cWe are up against a wicked ideology that cannot continue to have power in our country. And Indiana has a unique opportunity to take some of their power away, doing it through lawful means and doing it through legislative means, and they should listen to the president and get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Banks said in an interview that Trump is closely monitoring the redistricting effort \u2014 and similarly tied the importance of the push to Kirk\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey killed Charlie Kirk \u2014 the least that we can do is go through a legal process and redistrict Indiana into a nine to zero map,\u201d Banks said. \u201cAnd I sense it in this crowd, in a big way. And I sense it from supporters all over the state; that now’s not the time to back off. Now’s not the time to be nice. Now’s the time to engage in a peaceful and political way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Missouri lawmakers passed Republican-drawn maps this week at Trump\u2019s behest. Ohio is required to produce new maps soon, too. But in Indiana, Burkean conservatives have dragged their feet. Since an Oval Office meeting with Trump<\/u><\/a> last month, legislative leaders have neither publicly addressed that meeting nor shown their cards.<\/p>\n

Speaker Todd Huston and state Senate President Rodric Bray have been holding behind-closed-doors caucuses to take the temperature of their members. But people familiar and briefed on those proceedings say Huston hasn\u2019t taken a vote on the matter and Bray\u2019s Senate is said to have not made much headway.<\/p>\n

Throughout Saturday morning, precinct officials, local GOP grandees and state lawmakers heard speakers turn up the pressure on the issue.<\/p>\n

War Room host and keeper of the MAGA flame Steve Bannon joined the event via live stream<\/u><\/a>, calling for a maximalist approach to redistricting. \u201cWe\u2019re absolutely pushing for 9-0,\u201d DeGrasse told Bannon from the stage. \u201cThat\u2019s the whole ballgame.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kurt Schlichter, the Townhall columnist, said Indiana lawmakers needed to \u201cget hard\u201d and \u201chave the stones\u201d to succeed in their push. \u201cYou need to carve this state into nine Republican districts and drink their tears,\u201d he told Republicans of Democrats.<\/p>\n

The keynote panel featured three Indiana GOP state lawmakers who have become vocal proponents of redistricting. Among them was state Rep. Andrew Ireland, who said in an interview that Kirk\u2019s killing \u201ccrystallizes what a lot of people think, what the party believes,\u201d emphasizing that the country has a \u201creal issue\u201d with political violence \u2014 which he claimed the left was particularly responsible for \u2014 and that Republicans have been complacent. \u201cFor too long, I think Republicans have tried to just rest on their laurels when it comes to things like redistricting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not all of those gathered were nodding their heads. State Rep. Becky Cash, who represents more purple parts of the Indianapolis suburbs, told Blue Light News that even after hearing the case for redistricting afresh at Saturday morning\u2019s event following her White House visit last month, she remained opposed. Since Kirk\u2019s death, Cash said she has received messages saying she and her colleagues should \u201credraw it all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell people, \u2018I don’t think it’s gonna happen,\u2019 and then they look at me and they’re like, \u2018Oh, you’re definitely going back in\u201d for a special session, she said. \u201cI’m like, \u2018Well, do you know something that I don’t know?\u2019 Like, I think it’s 50-50 at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even if lawmakers do go back into a special session, Cash said based on her attendance at private caucuses she is not at all certain new maps would pass.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can tell you that the speaker did not take a count,\u201d Cash said. \u201cPeople are individually communicating with him. Obviously, we have three legislators who were on a panel today who are 100 percent yes. And I don’t know many who are \u2018yes.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Spokespeople for Huston and Bray did not return requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Banks painted the stakes of the effort in no uncertain terms, asking the audience of statewide officials, lawmakers and precinct officials and grassroots powerbrokers to imagine Republicans losing their House majority by one or two seats because the state failed to take up redistricting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndiana could be ground zero for keeping the House of Representatives,\u201d Banks said.<\/p>\n

Like this content? Consider signing up for Blue Light News’s <\/i>Playbook newsletter<\/i><\/a>. <\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump\u2019s already brass-knuckled push for red-state redistricting is taking on an increasingly apocalyptic valence among MAGA stalwarts following the killing of Charlie Kirk. Inside an Embassy Suites ballroom in suburban Indianapolis this weekend, Sen. Jim Banks\u2019 inaugural Hoosier Leadership for America Summit drew hundreds of attendees who came to hear from next-generation MAGA […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13259\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}