Republicans Take Election Night Shellacking From Trump Candidates After Helping Dems Kill Redistricting Bid

At least five of the seven Republican Indiana state senators that President Donald Trump aimed to defeat lost their reelection bids Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.

The president had backed primary challengers against seven of the 21 Republicans in the Indiana state Senate who voted in December 2025 to block a redistricting effort backed by Trump and Gov. Mike Braun that likely would have flipped the state’s two Democratic-held seats to the GOP in the midterms. Among the Trump-backed underdogs, five managed to eke out victories in a state the president won by 19 points in 2024, with the race too close to call Wednesday morning — an early positive sign of Trump’s influence over his party’s electorate heading into November.

The Trump-backed map blocked by the Republican-dominated Indiana State Senate would likely have allowed Republicans to win all nine Hoosier state House seats, a net gain of two seats. The map would have given the GOP only half of the four seats they are expected to lose in Virginia due to the state’s aggressive voter-approved Democratic gerrymandering, given it passes judicial review.

Between January and April, Trump sent a series of messages on Truth Social announcing his “complete and total” support for the seven challengers and making various references to the anti-redistricting candidates he was targeting as Republicans in Name Only (RINO) and “America Last.” A total of $13.5 million — a virtually unprecedented sum for state legislative elections — was spent on competitive races, with the lion’s share of that money going to the president’s slate of candidates, Politico reported.

“We could have easily won two seats in Indiana,” the president said in several of his messages, referring to the failure of the restrictive vote. (RELATED: Dark Money Tied to Soros Puts Virginia’s Unhinged Democratic Gerrymander at the Finish Line)

State Sen. Greg Goode, whom the president called “‘No Goode’ Greg Goode (BAD FOR THE USA!)” in a Feb. 25 Truth Social article, managed to turn the tide of the evening, defeating his Trump-backed opponent Brenda Wilson by a wide margin of 54% to 36%, according to the AP.

Trump added in his social media post that Goode’s decision to join 20 of his Senate colleagues in blocking the state’s proposed 9-0 Republican map “made him a hero to Hakeem Jeffries, Ilhan Omar, and every other member of the radical left in the United States House of Representatives.”

However, state Sen. Dan Dernulc was ousted by Trump-backed challenger Trevor De Vries by a landslide margin of more than 50 percentage points, state Sen. Linda Rodgers fell to Trump-backed Brian Schmutzler by a margin of 18 points and state Sen. Travis Holdman lost his GOP primary to the president’s pick Blake Fietcher by more than 23 points, according to the AP.

Meanwhile, state Sen. Jim Buck, whom Trump called “America’s last politician,” lost by nearly 30 points to businessman, chiropractor and farmer Tracey Powell, whom the president endorsed, the outlet reported.

Buck notably received the support of former Vice President Mike Pence, who served a term as governor of Indiana from 2013 to 2017.

“Tonight, we learned that President Trump’s support carries more weight than former Vice President Pence’s in his home state of Indiana,” conservative activist Scott Presler, a prominent Trump ally, wrote on X shortly after Tuesday night’s results were released.

Tonight we learned that President Trump’s endorsement

carries more weight than former Vice President Pence in his home state of Indiana.

– Persistence (@ScottPresler) May 6, 2026

State Sen. Greg Walker, who reversed his initial decision not to seek re-election, lost to Trump-backed opponent Michelle Davis, 58.8% to 41.2%, according to the AP.

In the 23rd state Senate District, incumbent Sen. Spencer Deery was locked in a neck-and-neck primary against Trump-backed Fountain County GOP Chair Paula Copenhaver, who remained too close to call Wednesday morning, the AP reported. Deery led by just three votes out of 12,000, with 99% of the ballots counted.

Many of the Republican senators Trump backed against because of their redistricting votes otherwise had reliable conservative records on other issues such as Second Amendment rights, The New York Times reported.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent, nonpartisan news service, is available free to any legitimate news publisher capable of delivering a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and DCNF affiliation. For questions about our guidelines or our partnership, please contact licenses@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.