Trump downplays Indiana redistricting loss, but funds could be in doubt
After Indiana defeated mid-census redistricting Thursday afternoon, President Donald Trump downplayed the loss, while Gov. Mike Braun and Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith shared their disappointment and hinted at the Trump administration’s potential repercussions for the state.
House Bill 1032, which would have given Republicans an advantage in all nine congressional districts, was introduced and passed in the House last week by a vote of 57-41.
The Senate rejected the measure on Thursday with 31 senators voting against and 19 in favor of the proposed map, which would have split the 1st District, currently held by U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan, D-Highland, into two, and the 7th District, currently held by U.S. Rep. Andre Carson, D-Indianapolis, into four districts.
Jennifer Hora, a political science professor at Valparaiso University, said many political analysts believe the bill will not pass the Senate but that the vote will be close.
“The most surprising thing was that it was 31-19 and a majority of Republicans voted against it. I didn’t expect that,” Hora said. “There wasn’t a lot of enthusiasm for this issue and they didn’t want to end up on the losing side.”
All members of the Northwest Indiana Senate delegation, Republicans and Democrats, voted against mid-census redistricting and the proposed map, which would have moved the northern part of Porter County and Michigan City into the Second District.
State Sen. Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell, said he voted against the map because it didn’t follow the typical redistricting process. In 2021, when Indiana’s redistricting was last completed, lawmakers held public hearings in each district, the maps were reviewed by the Legislature and the courts ruled the maps were legally valid, he said.
In the proposed map, the 1st District stretched too far into central Indiana, Niemeyer said.
“I understand the reason they wanted this done: to protect Congress. The reason I didn’t vote yes was because … the map came out on December 1 and I didn’t like the new map,” Niemeyer said.
State Sens. Dan Dernulc, R-Highland, and Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
After the vote, Trump said he had won Indiana three times “by an overwhelming majority,” so “there is no reason” not to redistrict Indiana’s nine congressional districts to have a Republican advantage.
“I didn’t work very hard on it. It would have been nice, I think we would have gained two seats if we had done that,” Trump said. “I wasn’t much at all.”
Over the past four months, the Trump administration has pressured Republican-led states, starting with Texas, to complete mid-census redistricting to ensure a Republican majority in the House after the 2026 midterm elections. Vice President JD Vance has twice traveled to Indianapolis to meet with Republican leaders to discuss mid-census redistricting, and Trump met with Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray, R-Martinsville, and House Speaker Todd Huston, R-FIshers, in the Oval Office.
In his remarks Thursday, Trump denied knowing who Bray was and expressed hope of facing a primary challenger when he is up for re-election in 2028.
Bray said the Senate Republican caucus supports Trump, especially on issues like immigration and public safety, and the Senate Republican caucus will introduce bills that work with the Trump administration on those issues.
“It’s time to turn the page. Hoosiers need leadership from their state government that will continue to improve our education system and make life more affordable for Hoosiers,” Bray said.
Braun criticized the result on X/Twitter shortly after the vote.
“I am very disappointed that a small group of misguided state senators have joined forces with Democrats to reject this opportunity to protect Hoosiers with fair maps and to reject President Trump’s leadership,” Braun’s statement read. “Ultimately, decisions like this come with political consequences. I will work with the president to challenge these individuals who do not represent the best interests of Hoosiers.”
The Senate has posed an obstacle to mid-census redistricting, as Bray has told multiple media outlets since October that the chamber does not have the votes to pass the measure. Since this announcement, and an initial cancellation of the December session of the Senate due to lack of votes, many senators – including Niemeyer and Dernulc – have received violent calls.
Heritage Action, the lobbying arm of the conservative Heritage Foundation, posted on
“Roads will not be paved. Guard bases will close. Major projects will stop. This is the issue and any NO vote will be blamed,” according to the organization.
Beckwith shared Heritage Action’s post on He has since deleted the post.
On Friday, Beckwith released a laundry list of Trump’s accomplishments and accused “Indiana politicians” of deciding to “get coy.” The post included photos of the 21 Senate Republicans who voted against redistricting.
“Yesterday, the Indiana Senate was faced with a simple choice: stand up and fight a Marxist movement…or choose dishonor. They choose dishonor,” Beckwith said.
Niemeyer said he heard that the Trump administration had threatened to withhold funds from Indiana because of the failure of mid-census redistricting. But Niemeyer said he couldn’t control the federal government’s reaction, all he could control was how he voted.
“I worry about what might happen. All we can do at this point is wait and see what happens,” Niemeyer said. “I hope they don’t use this to show they didn’t like our vote.”
It would be difficult for the federal government to withhold funds from Indiana, Hora said. Although the federal government might try to withhold the subsidies, it’s likely that interest groups will file lawsuits against it, she said.
“They will definitely be monitoring if any of their funding changes or disappears,” Hora said.
It’s unusual in Indiana for a governor and lieutenant governor to write social media posts with “inflammatory” language against members of their party, Hora said.
“There are a lot of ways to concede graciously, to say, ‘I don’t agree with their vote, but that’s it,’” Hora said. “I haven’t seen the Republican Party this angry at other members of the Republican Party, and in such a visible way.”
Braun’s political influence with Senate Republicans proved so weak that the majority of Republican senators did not vote for redistricting mid-census, Hora said.
“It’s a huge loss for the governor of the state to take such a strong stance on this issue and then lose so publicly,” Hora said.
As the bill was being discussed in the Senate, Republican supporters of the bill argued that mid-census redistricting is constitutional because, although the Indiana Constitution says redistricting can occur after the decennial census is released, it does not say that redistricting must occur only once during that period, Hora said.
The bill’s Senate sponsor, Sen. Mike Gaskill, Republican of Pendleton, said Democrats “declared war” on Republicans by holding the congressional maps with the Democrats’ advantage. Gaskill argued that the country’s sharp political divisions represented a “second civil war” and urged Republicans in the House to “stand up and fight” against Democrats, telling them they could be “Churchills” or “Chamberlains.”
“The rhetoric we’re hearing from the national Democratic Party is absolutely insane. I know you don’t support this,” he told Republican members, “but they are inciting people to commit heinous acts. We must stop the evil now.”
With his combative language, Gaskill was trying to scare Republicans into supporting the bill, Hora said.
“When your own party votes 21 to 19, that’s a pretty harsh rebuke from you, it’s not going to scare us,” Hora said.
State Sen. Rodney Pol Jr., D-Chesterton, said he “really didn’t know what the votes were going to be until they were on the board.” Ultimately, Pol said the threats, coming from within the state and country, against the senators backfired.
If the Trump administration decides to withhold funding from Indiana, then Indiana’s nine congressional leaders should work together to ensure funding is appropriate for the state, Pol said.
“The state legislature did the will of the people. Now all nine congressional leaders must ensure the funding gets through,” Pol said.
Hoosiers testifying, calling, emailing and sending letters to lawmakers against mid-census redistricting made a difference, Pol said.
“I think people were relieved to be heard,” Pol said. “This is a historic victory for all Hoosiers.”
akukulka@post-trib.com
