The GOP-led Indiana Senate defied President Trump’s wishes on Thursday and rejected a proposal to redraw its congressional district maps that could have erased two Democratic seats.
Trump led a pressure campaign on Republicans in the Hoosier State for redistricting that would have upped his chances of holding onto the House in the 2026 midterm elections.
People protest outside the Indiana Senate chamber on Dec. 11, 2025. APHe called on GOP leader Rodric Bray to push through the new map that would have created a 9-0 GOP advantage for the Indiana delegation in Congress. Bray voted no in a 31-19 vote on Thursday afternoon.
“He’ll go down,” Trump predicted Thursday night from the Oval Office of getting Bray voted out of office. “I’ll certainly support anybody that wants to go against him.”
President Donald Trump speaks at a roundtable on Dec. 10, 2025. AARON SCHWARTZ/POOL/EPA/ShutterstockIt was a rare defeat after Trump launched a successful redistricting push in Texas earlier this year that added five more GOP seats.
Democrats punched back with a California redistricting effort led by Gov. Gavin Newsom to wipe out several GOP seats.
In Indiana, the White House has been involved with the redistricting effort for months, dispatching Vice President JD Vance to meet with Indiana lawmakers, including Bra,y in October.
Indiana state senators listen to a testimony at the Indiana Statehouse on Dec. 8, 2025. Bloomberg via Getty ImagesOn Thursday, Vance bashed Bray on X for having “consistently told us he wouldn’t fight redistricting while simultaneously whipping his members against it.”
“That level of dishonesty cannot be rewarded, and the Indiana GOP needs to choose a side,” he wrote.
A protester stands outside the Indiana Senate chamber on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. APBray denied the allegation, telling reporters that he was not actively trying to kill the bill behind closed doors.
“Typically my style is to let people vote like they want,” he said, according to the Indianapolis Star. “They could come with a yes or come with a no. It’s exactly what I did this time.”
Trump posted on Truth Social ahead of the vote, urging Republicans to fall in line.
“[Indiana] now has a chance to make a difference in Washington, D.C., in regard to the number of House seats we have that are necessary to hold the Majority against the Radical Left Democrats,” Trump wrote. “Every other State has done Redistricting, willingly, openly, and easily.”
