Indiana Senate Republicans are divided over a Trump-backed mid-cycle redistricting plan that could give the GOP a strong chance to capture all nine of the state’s U.S. House seats ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Senate leader Rodric Bray has softened his earlier opposition but remains unsure whether enough votes exist to pass the measure this week, amid heavy pressure from Trump’s team and a surge of threats targeting lawmakers.
Indiana’s Republican-controlled House passed a new congressional map on Friday, a plan that supporters say could put all nine of the state’s U.S. House seats within reach for the GOP, expanding on the current 7–2 advantage. The measure, which Politico and the Associated Press report has been championed by President Donald Trump as part of a nationwide effort to shore up Republican strength in the U.S. House before the 2026 midterms, now faces a pivotal vote in the state Senate later this week.
The House approved the map 57–41 after a week of debate, with 12 Republicans joining Democrats in opposition, according to local and national outlets. The proposal would split Indianapolis into four districts and further weaken Democratic-leaning areas, potentially wiping out the two seats Democrats currently hold.
Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray, who only weeks ago said there were not enough votes in his chamber to move forward with redistricting, has recently tempered his stance. Politico reports that during a brief Senate session on Monday, lasting just over a dozen minutes, Bray reiterated his skepticism but declined to say publicly whether supporters now have the 25 votes needed for passage, remarking instead that senators would find out when the roll is called later in the week. His change in tone marks a shift from his earlier insistence that the Senate would not reconvene to take up the map at all.
The Monday session was punctuated by protests in the Senate gallery, where demonstrators opposed to the mid-decade remap repeatedly interrupted proceedings with chants criticizing the effort as a partisan power grab. Police ultimately removed some protesters as senators prepared for a potential floor vote as early as Thursday, though lawmakers and aides say the decision could slip to Friday.
Trump and his allies have mounted an intensive pressure campaign on reluctant Republicans in the chamber. Politico reports that Vice President J.D. Vance has made two trips to Indiana to promote the plan, while Trump has praised House leaders on his social media platform and urged the Senate to approve the map without changes. His posts have singled out individual GOP senators seen as undecided, encouraging supporters to contact them.
According to Politico’s reporting, national conservative groups have also descended on Indianapolis. Turning Point Action has sent activists to lobby senators and warned that it will support primary challengers against Republicans who oppose the map. At the same time, organizations including Indiana Conservation Voters have run television and digital ads urging senators to reject mid-decade redistricting, with spending on both sides of the fight reaching into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The intense lobbying has coincided with a spate of menacing incidents aimed at some lawmakers. Politico and other outlets have documented that at least a dozen Indiana Republicans have reported threatening messages or harassment in recent weeks, including swatting incidents and hoax bomb threats, after Trump publicly criticized opponents of the plan. Law enforcement officials are investigating several of the reports.
A previous attempt to advance the map in the Senate last month failed on a 19–19 tie, underscoring the division within the 40-member Republican caucus. With Democrats uniformly opposed, backers of the proposal would need to win over several GOP holdouts to clear the 25-vote threshold that, under state rules, would trigger a tiebreaking vote from the Republican lieutenant governor.
Former Republican state lawmaker Mike Murphy, speaking to Politico, described the situation as an example of national politics overtaking Indiana’s legislative process and said current legislators risk being used as “pawns” in Trump’s broader strategy to lock in a favorable U.S. House map.
The showdown in Indiana is one front in a wider redistricting campaign led by Trump and his allies. As NPR has reported, the U.S. Supreme Court recently allowed a disputed Texas congressional map to take effect, a plan that could yield about five additional Republican-held seats. That ruling has strengthened the GOP’s hand heading into 2026, even as efforts to redraw maps in other states continue to face legal challenges and political pushback.
