Trump threatens to primary Indiana Republicans ahead of key redistricting vote

President Donald Trump threatened electoral consequences for Indiana Republicans who defy his demand that the state redraw its congressional map to secure more seats for the GOP — singling out a state senator who could help block the effort on Thursday.

Trump raged at Indiana Senate Republican leader Rodric Bray in a social media post late Wednesday, saying he would back primary opponents for those who stand in the way of an effort to preserve the GOP House majority in the midterms.

“Anybody that votes against Redistricting, and the SUCCESS of the Republican Party in D.C., will be, I am sure, met with a MAGA Primary in the Spring,” Trump wrote. “Rod Bray and his friends won’t be in Politics for long, and I will do everything within my power to make sure that they will not hurt the Republican Party, and our Country, again.”

His threat reflects the stakes for his presidency if the Democrats retake the House, which would allow them to thwart his agenda and launch investigations of his administration. Trump has sought to prevent that by pushing states with GOP governors and Republican-controlled legislatures to redraw their congressional districts.

Republicans stand to gain two more seats in Indiana, giving them all nine in the state, under the new proposed map.

Indiana Republicans have faced intense pressure to redraw their congressional districts for months. Vice President JD Vance has traveled to the state to lobby legislators in person, and House Speaker Mike Johnson made calls to individual senators. Trump himself has spoken to Republican state senators on multiple occasions — both on the phone and in person at the White House.

A pair of conservative, Trump-aligned PACs have driven nearly half a million dollars in ad buys to shape public opinion on redistricting in the state. Trump campaign staffers, including his former campaign manager Chris LaCivita, have helped launch a dark-money group to advocate for redistricting in Indiana.

On Friday, Turning Point Action said it would partner with other conservative PACs to fund primary challenges against Indiana Republicans who vote against the new map.

A handful of Indiana legislators have also been subject to bomb threats and “swattings,” false calls of danger to law enforcement that elicit an aggressive response designed to intimidate a target.

Despite the pressure, Bray and a significant chunk of the Republican caucus in the Indiana Senate have resisted calls to redraw the maps — setting up a crucial vote on Thursday that could be the death knell for mid-decade redistricting in the state if Bray and his allies hold firm.

In his lengthy social media post, Trump appeared to acknowledge the uphill battle his preferred map faces ahead of the vote.

“One of my favorite States, Indiana, will be the only State in the Union to turn the Republican Party down!” he wrote.

A failure to pass a new map in Indiana would shrink the potential advantage Trump might gain from triggering a mid-decade redistricting tit-for-tat this summer when he urged Texas to draw a new map that created five new GOP-leaning House seats. GOP-controlled legislators in Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio have subsequently drawn new maps favoring Republicans.

But those efforts have been countered by a new congressional map in California, while other Democratic states like Virginia and Maryland continue to weigh gerrymanders of their own.