In the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s failed push to get Indiana Republicans to pass an extreme mid-decade gerrymander that would have eliminated all Democratic congressional seats in the state, GOP officials who supported the effort are now admitting defeat and facing recriminations from within their own party.
Trump threw everything he could at pushing the new map forward, sending Vice President JD Vance to Indiana multiple times. Governor Mike Braun and the congressional GOP delegation also endorsed the plan. However, after a bitterly divisive session marked by violent threats targeting GOP holdouts, Braun has acknowledged that the effort is unlikely to succeed anytime soon.
“I don’t intend to call another special session to push early redistricting. I think that ship has sailed,” Braun told *State Affairs*.
Meanwhile, according to the *Indiana Capital Chronicle*, tensions continue to simmer within the state GOP due to how officials turned against each other over the proposal. Senator Jean Leising of Oldenburg, a 25-year lawmaker who voted against redistricting, made it clear that Braun should reconcile with Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray. Bray came under heavy MAGA criticism as the voice of the majority of the GOP caucus who opposed the plan.
“If he were asking me, ‘What should I do next?’ I’d say, ‘You need to apologize to Senator Bray, our pro tem.’ Because he actually said that he wanted to work against him,” Leising said.
Another redistricting opponent, Senator Sue Glick of LaGrange, commented on the current atmosphere: “I don’t think anybody wants to have a lasting impact. There will be some hard feelings. But I thought that we kept it under control. There didn’t seem to be the acrimony on the floor that you might have anticipated. Most of that was coming from outside.”
As Indiana Republicans grapple with the fallout from this divisive episode, the party now faces the challenge of healing internal divisions while moving forward.
https://www.rawstory.com/indiana-gerrymandering-2674405596/
