Indiana GOP Drops Redistricting Bid In Big Loss For Trump

Republicans in the Indiana state legislature canceled a special session called at the behest of President Donald Trump to consider drawing new maps to eliminate two Democratic Party-held House seats on Friday.

The canceled session in Indiana marks a major loss for Trump and Republicans as they push GOP-run states to engage in mid-decade redistricting in a bid to insulate their thin majority in the House from Trump’s growing unpopularity ahead of the 2026 elections.

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“Over the last several months, Senate Republicans have given very serious and thoughtful consideration to the concept of redrawing our state’s congressional maps,” Indiana state Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray said in a statement. “Today, I’m announcing there are not enough votes to move that idea forward, and the Senate will not reconvene in December.”

Republicans thought they could flip the only two Democratic seats in the state’s nine-member House delegation into the GOP column through redistricting. The White House ran an all-out pressure campaign on state leaders, with Vice President JD Vance visiting the state twice. And it looks like Trump world is mad.

“BREAKING: Sen Rodric Bray announces retirement,” Chris LaCivita, Trump’s 2024 co-campaign manager, posted on X following the announcement.

The GOP’s reversal in Indiana follows a brutal week for the party’s redistricting campaign. California voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot initiative allowing the Democratic-dominated legislature to set aside the state’s nonpartisan redistricting commission and draw partisan maps eliminating up to five GOP-held seats. That would offset the potential gain of five seats Texas Republicans created when they launched this redistricting war in August.

Democrat Abigail Spanberger’s gubernatorial victory and her party’s romp in state legislative elections in Virginia came after the party announced it too would redraw maps to favor Democrats in response to Trump’s redistricting push.

And in Utah, a judge required the state to adopt a new House map that creates a safe Democratic seat centered in Salt Lake City following litigation in state court.

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At the same time, state Republican leaders rejected Trump’s redistricting overtures in Kansas and New Hampshire.

With Indiana now off the map, Republicans have redrawn House maps in four states — Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio — for a potential gain of seven seats. Democrats would likely exceed Republicans’ haul when combining gains from new maps in California, Utah and, potentially, Virginia.

There are still other GOP redistricting efforts that could gain steam in Florida and Nebraska, but it appears that California’s successful counter to Texas’ redistricting, along with Democratic victories in the 2025 elections, has decreased the appetite among state-level Republicans for tinkering with their maps.

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