President Donald Trump erupted in a blistering late-night attack on Indiana Republicans who refused to bend to his redistricting plans, calling them “ashamed” and promising to back primary challengers against them.
On Thursday, the Indiana state Senate shot down a bill that would have effectively erased the state’s two Democratic districts. Twenty-one Republicans broke ranks, joining all 10 Democrats to defeat the measure 31-19.
“Republicans in the Indiana State Senate, who voted against a Majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, should be ashamed of themselves,” Trump wrote on Truth Social around 1 a.m. Saturday.
“Headed by a total loser named Rod Bray, every one of these people should be ‘primaried,’” he added. “And I will be there to help! Indiana, which I won big, is the only state in the Union to do this!”
Bray, the state Senate President pro tempore, had warned weeks earlier that support for the gerrymandering measure was thin, despite months of pressure from Trump and his allies. Vice President JD Vance even flew to Indianapolis in August to lobby lawmakers in person.
When asked about the vote at a White House press briefing Friday, Trump distanced himself. “I wasn’t working on it very hard,” he said.
But his late-night post left no doubt about his anger. “Would have been nice, I think we would have picked up two seats, if we did that,” he wrote, before going after Bray directly. “He’ll probably lose his next primary, whenever that is. I hope he does, because he’s done a tremendous disservice. I’m sure he’ll go down.”
Vance also blasted Bray on X. “Rod Bray, the Senate leader in Indiana, has consistently told us he wouldn’t fight redistricting while simultaneously whipping his members against it,” he wrote. “That level of dishonesty cannot be rewarded, and the Indiana GOP needs to choose a side.”
Even as Trump lashed out, House Speaker Mike Johnson tried to play down the political fallout. When CNN asked if the vote shows Trump is a lame duck, Johnson said, “Not at all. No, he is not a lame duck. He’s the most powerful president of this generation and many others. We have a lot more work to do together. The outcome in Indiana is inconsequential to that.”
Some Indiana Republicans, however, pushed back against Trump’s pressure campaign. “You have to know Hoosiers,” state Sen. Sue Glick told NBC News after voting against the bill. “We can’t be bullied, we don’t like it.”
The showdown in Indiana comes as other states, including Texas and California, undertake controversial mid-decade redistricting ahead of the 2026 midterms — elections where the president’s party typically loses seats. Trump kick-started the campaign, urging GOP-led states to redraw maps to lock in or expand their razor-thin House majority.
With Trump now openly threatening to weaponize primaries against Republicans who defy him, the Indiana vote may be just the opening salvo in a high-stakes battle for control of the GOP ahead of the next election cycle.
