Trump steps up pressure campaign on Republicans to redraw congressional maps

President Donald Trump is amplifying his political targeting of Indiana Republicans who are resisting the president’s calls for redistricting in Congress.

On Tuesday, for the third day in a row, 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.

“A RINO State Senator, Rodric Bray, who doesn’t care about maintaining the majority in the House of Representatives in Washington, is the main problem. Soon he will have a main problem, just like every other politician who supports him in this stupidity,” Trump warned in a social media post.

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

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

The president returned to social media a day later, accusing: “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!

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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.”

Trump on Tuesday called Braun a “good man” but warned that he “must deliver results on this or he will be the only governor, Republican or Democrat, who hasn’t.”

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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 on Tuesday, a panel of three federal judges dealt a blow to Trump and Republicans, ruling that the state cannot use the new map in next year’s elections. Texas Republicans say they will appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, 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.