The Indiana Senate voted towards the congressional redistricting plan referred to as for by President Trump in his try to assist Republicans win the 2026 midterm elections.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
President Trump’s nationwide effort to reshape the midterm elections in favor of Republicans has succeeded in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina however not in Indiana.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Yeah, Republicans in these different states obeyed the president’s order to skew the elections in Republicans’ favor. Republican state senators in my residence state determined in any other case. The president and his allies threatened penalties for Indiana if they didn’t submit. After sufficient lawmakers ignored him, Trump minimized his defeat.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Properly, we gained each different state. That is the one state. It is humorous ‘trigger I gained the – I gained Indiana all 3 times by a landslide, and I wasn’t engaged on it very onerous. Would have been good. I believe we might have picked up two seats if we did that.
MARTIN: For extra on this, we’re joined by Ben Thorp of WFYI in Indianapolis. Good morning, Ben.
BEN THORP, BYLINE: Good morning.
MARTIN: Thanks for getting up early since you have been there within the State Capitol fairly late. So inform us in regards to the vote.
THORP: Yeah. It was very suspenseful. There have been protesters towards redistricting within the Capitol, and you possibly can sort of hear them as senators debated for over three hours. The result, I believe, was actually unknown, and in the long run, the redistricting invoice failed by a vote of solely 19 in favor and 31 opposed. It is necessary to say that the Indiana Senate is closely Republican. So of these 31 opposed, 21 have been Republicans. This is one in all them. That is state Senator Spencer Deery, who stated that redistricting simply to get political acquire went towards his conservative values.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SPENCER DEERY: I see no justification that outweighs the harms it could inflict upon the individuals’s religion within the integrity of our elections and our system of presidency.
THORP: He stated he’d combat with, quote, his final “breath” to stop the federal authorities from bullying a state. Others simply stated their constituents didn’t need this.
MARTIN: In order that state senator referred to as it bullying. The Trump administration in all probability referred to as it making an attempt to be persuasive. So what did they do to attempt to steer this the president’s method?
THORP: Yeah. So it began months in the past. Indiana lawmakers have been delivered to the White Home. Vice President Vance went to Indiana. The truth is, in the course of the debate, Vance tweeted that Senate President Professional Tem Rodric Bray was being dishonest in making an attempt to defeat this invoice, and Bray did finally vote towards it. Trump and Republican Governor Mike Braun right here threatened to again major challenges towards senators who did not get on board. And the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., tweeted yesterday that he would come marketing campaign right here towards them. You heard a few of what Trump stated there on the prime. He additionally stated he’d help somebody to run towards Bray. For his half, the governor, Braun, warned that, quote, “choices like this” are going to “carry political penalties.”
MARTIN: And what would this redistricting have achieved?
THORP: Yeah, the state has seven Republican members of the Home and two Democrats now. This may have redrawn the traces to assist flip these final two seats. Supporters stated it was authorized, despite the fact that redistricting is often achieved after the census firstly of the last decade. They stated Democratic-led states have gerrymandered like that previously, however opponents stated it could have divided up minority voters right here in Indianapolis and put them in districts the place their votes can be outnumbered by suburban and rural voters, principally diluting their vote.
MARTIN: So the place does President Trump’s redistricting effort stand now?
THORP: To date, Republicans have been in a position to tilt a pair extra seats their method than Democrats. Texas redistricted to assist the GOP win possibly 5 seats there. Missouri and North Carolina every did one seat. California Democrats have countered by tilting 5 seats their method. However the query now could be whether or not Republicans in different states the place that is being thought of, like Florida and Kansas, will go forward with redistricting.
MARTIN: That’s Ben Thorp in Indianapolis. Ben, thanks.
THORP: Thanks a lot.
Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights reserved. Go to our web site phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional data.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts could differ. Transcript textual content could also be revised to appropriate errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org could also be edited after its authentic broadcast or publication. The authoritative report of NPR’s programming is the audio report.
