Indiana Senate blocks congressional map that would favor Republicans
A family watches protesters from the top floor of the Indiana State Capitol building on July 25, 2022, in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Jon Cherry/Getty Images)
The Indiana state Senate has failed to pass a new congressional map that would give Republicans a leg up in the 2026 election.
The new map was denied in the upper chamber by a 19-31 vote, with 21 Republican members joining 10 Democrats in voting against the measure.
The map, which the state’s House of Representatives approved last week, would have favored the GOP in all nine of the state’s districts by breaking up the blue city of Indianapolis into four districts and the left-leaning northwest region into two districts.
Half of the Republicans in the chamber believed the map was gerrymandered to give the party the overwhelming edge in the state.
“Make no mistake, I, like many of those who will join me in voting no today, are constitutional fiscal and religious conservatives. What that means to me is that I believe in conserving the values, the culture and the institutions that created American exceptionalism,” said Indiana state Sen. Spencer Deery (R-Ind.), who voted against the map. “My point is that my opposition to mid-cycle gerrymandering is not in contrast with my conservative principles. My opposition is driven by them.”
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Other GOP members urged their colleagues to reconsider shooting down the map.
“Please, stand up and fight for your people the way they fight for theirs,” Indiana state Sen. Mike Gaskill (R-Ind.), the chair of the Indiana Senate Committee on Elections, referring to the Democrats.
The Republicans who sided with Democrats did so in opposition to President Donald Trump’s warning that they will “eventually lose everything to the Democrats.”
“Anybody that votes against Redistricting, and the SUCCESS of the Republican Party in D.C., will be, I am sure, met with a MAGA Primary in the Spring,” he wrote in a Truth Social post this week. “If Republicans will not do what is necessary to save our Country, they will eventually lose everything to the Democrats.”
I love the State of Indiana, and have won it, including Primaries, six times, all by MASSIVE Majorities. Importantly, it 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…
— Commentary: Trump Truth Social Posts On X (@TrumpTruthOnX) December 11, 2025
“The spineless RINOs in Indiana, many hailing from districts where President Trump won by over 20% just last November have stabbed their own voters in the back and sold out America!” Trump advisor Alex Bruesewitz wrote on X after the vote. “We’ll be launching primary challenges against every last traitor who voted no, effective immediately! Pack your bags, your time is up!”
The spineless RINOs in Indiana, many hailing from districts where President Trump won by over 20% just last November have stabbed their own voters in the back and sold out America!
We'll be launching primary challenges against every last traitor who voted no, effective… https://t.co/uuVpN3TSrf
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said that the vote was “disappointing.”
“We have better candidates, better message, and we have a lot to show the people, so we’ll continue our momentum,” he said of the party’s strategy for the 2026 midterm elections.
Despite the vote in Indiana leaving the state’s redistricting efforts in limbo, other states have successfully passed new maps ahead of next year. Texas passed a map that would flip five Democrat seats to Republican. Missouri’s new map is also GOP-friendly in the Kansas City area, North Carolina’s new map favors the GOP, and Ohio’s new map could flip two districts to Republican. California, however, passed legislation last month that overrides the state’s independent commission to put the map under the state government’s control in an effort to compete with Texas Republicans.
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