Trump threatens Indiana Republican Party’s primary redistricting challenges

President Donald Trump is turning up the heat on Indiana Republicans who are resisting political pressure from the president to move forward with congressional redistricting.

On Monday, for a second straight day, Trump pledged to support primary challenges against Republican lawmakers in the solidly red Midwestern state who have not supported his push to draw new maps in Indiana that would create another Republican-leaning congressional district.

“I will strongly support any senator or member of the House of Representatives from the great state of Indiana who votes against the Republican Party and our nation by not allowing redistricting of congressional seats in the United States House of Representatives,” Trump wrote in a social media post.

Indiana is the latest battleground in the high-stakes redistricting showdown pitting Trump and Republicans against Democrats to shape the 2026 midterm landscape in the fight for the House majority.

Indiana Republicans reject Trump-backed redistricting push

President Donald Trump, seen pointing as he boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, September 11, 2025, targets Indiana Republican lawmakers who do not support the president’s congressional redistricting efforts. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

Republicans currently control seven of Indiana’s nine congressional districts, and any new map passed by the Legislature’s large Republican majority would likely shift the state’s 1st Congressional District from a blue-leaning seat to a red-leaning seat.

Despite pressure from Trump and his political team, Indiana Senate Republican Leader Rodric Bray announced last week that there was not enough support in the House to move forward with redistricting.

Trump on Sunday blasted Bray and another Republican state senator, calling for their ouster.

“Because of these two politically correct “gentlemen” and a few others, they could deprive the Republicans of a majority in the House, A VERY BIG DEAL!” » accused the president.

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Trump is twisting his neck in his attempt to make Indiana the last Republican-controlled state to change the congressional map. The president called state lawmakers, and Vice President J.D. Vance visited the state earlier this fall to discuss redistricting.

And Fox News confirmed that Trump has invited some of the Indiana Republicans who oppose redistricting to White House meetings in the coming days. The news was first reported by Politico.

Indiana Gov. Mike Braun speaks during a news conference at Gary Chicago International Airport in Gary, Indiana, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. He called a special session to redraw the state’s congressional map. (Michael Gard/Post-Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Trump, in his Sunday message, also lashed out at Republican Gov. Mike Braun of Indiana, arguing that the governor “may not be working the way he should to get the votes he needs.”

Braun wrote on social media Monday: “Just had a great call with President Trump! I told him I remain committed to standing with him on the critical issue of passing fair maps in Indiana to ensure the MAGA agenda succeeds in Congress.”

And the governor claimed that “the Indiana State Senate is hiding behind closed doors and refusing to even put redistricting to a vote. Hoosiers deserve to know where their legislators stand and expect them to show up for work, not go out and hide in the dark.”

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The Indiana president’s push is part of a broader effort by Trump’s political team and the Republican Party to shore up the party’s razor-thin House majority to maintain control of the chamber in next year’s midterms, when the ruling party traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats.

Trump aims to prevent what happened during his first term in the White House, when Democrats reclaimed the House majority in the 2018 midterm elections.

Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio drew new maps as part of the president’s efforts. And Florida and Kansas are also considering redrawing their maps.

“We must keep the majority at all costs,” Trump wrote Monday.

But Democrats are fighting back.

California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks during an election night press conference at a California Democratic Party office, Tuesday, November 4, 2025, in Sacramento, California. (Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP Photo)

Two weeks ago, California voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 50, a ballot initiative that will temporarily hijack the state’s nonpartisan redistricting commission from the left and return congressional map-drawing power to the Democratic-dominated Legislature.

That is expected to result in five additional Democratic-leaning districts in California, which would counter the passage earlier this year in Texas of a new map aimed at creating up to five right-wing seats in the House.

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Illinois and Maryland, both blue states, and Virginia, where Democrats control the legislature, are also taking action or seriously considering redistricting.

And in a blow to the Republicans, a Utah District Judge last week, he rejected a congressional district map drawn by the state’s GOP-dominated Legislature and instead endorsed an alternative that would create a Democratic-leaning district ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.