If Indiana Republican senators have any questions about how to handle President Donald Trump’s redistricting proposals, he’s helping them decide the night before this week’s vote.
In a lengthy post on social media, trump card Accusing the state’s top senator of being “a bad person, or a very stupid person.”
“This language is not helpful,” said Sen. Travis Holdman, a banker and attorney from nearby Fort Wayne who voted against the plan.
He was one of 21 Republican senators responsible for one of the most significant political defeats of Trump’s second term. reject redistricting In Indiana. The decision undermines the president’s National movement to redraw congressional maps to improve the party’s chances in the upcoming midterm elections.
In interviews after Thursday’s vote, several Republican senators said they Go against the plan It was because their voters didn’t like it from the beginning. But in the Midwest, a good rebuttal Increasingly vulgar political discourse in the United Statessome said they simply didn’t like the president’s tone, such as when he called senators “idiots.”
“I mean, it’s very annoying,” said Senator Jean Leising, a farmer from Oldenburg who works in her daughter’s travel agency.
Trump didn’t seem to get the message. Asked about the results of the vote, the president again pointed the finger at Indiana’s top senator, Roderick Bray.
“He’s probably going to lose the next primary no matter what,” Trump said. “I hope he does because he’s done a lot of damage.”
Sen. Sue Glick, a lawyer from LaGrange who also opposes redistricting, dismissed Trump’s threats to remove lawmakers who defy him.
“I thought he had better things to do,” she said. “The money would be better spent on electing the people he wants to represent his agenda in Congress.”
Trump struggles to gain support in Indiana
The president tried to downplay the failure, telling reporters that he “didn’t put a lot of effort into this.”
But the White House spent months engaging in what Republican Sen. Andy Zai called a “full-court press.”
Vice President Vance met with senators twice in Indiana and once in Washington. White House aides frequently check in on the situation by phone.
Haldeman said the message behind the scenes is often more comforting than Trump’s social media attacks.
“The information we’re receiving is mixed,” he said. “Two days before the vote, they wanted to declare a truce with Senator Bray. The next day, there was a post on Truth Social that didn’t sound like truce language to me.”
Some of Trump’s other comments also prompted backlash. For example, he described Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as “retarded,” which upset Sen. Mike Bohasek because his daughter has Down syndrome. Bohaček has long been skeptical of redistricting and decided to vote against it in response.
The White House did not respond to questions about contacts with the senators but distanced itself from conservative allies who claim Trump threatened to withhold state funds.
“President Trump loves the great state of Indiana,” said spokesman Davis Ingle, who insisted Trump “never threatened to cut federal funding and to do otherwise is 100 percent fake news.”
Regardless, Trump has struggled to gain support despite months of pressure.
Haldeman said he declined an invitation to the White House last month because of a scheduling conflict.
“Also, by then it’s a little too late,” he said.
Lessing said she missed a call from White House officials while attending a committee meeting the day before the vote. She didn’t try to call back because she wouldn’t change her mind.
Former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, a Republican, has a simple explanation for what happened.
“People in our state don’t respond well to being bullied,” he said.
Daniels’ successor, Gov. Mike Pence, took a call from the senator during the redistricting debate, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private conversations.
The person declined to describe Pence’s proposal. Pence has been at odds with Trump since he refused to help Trump overturn the election he lost to Joe Biden on January 6, 2021, while he was vice president.
Senators say their constituents don’t want new districts
Some Republicans blasted the senator for defying Trump.
“His life was threatened – he was almost assassinated,” Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith wrote on social media. “What’s all this for? So that Indiana politicians will become timid.”
Beckwith said his message to the president was “to hell with it.”
But senators who oppose redistricting say they are simply listening to their constituents. Some argue the unusual push for redistricting amounts to political cheating. Others don’t like Washington telling Indiana what to do.
The proposed map would split Indianapolis into four chunks, grafting parts of the city onto others in an effort to weaken Democratic voters. But in small towns near the Kentucky-Ohio border, residents worry the state’s largest metropolitan area will gain influence at their expense.
“Voters just don’t want it,” Haldeman said.
During Thursday’s Senate vote, some Republicans appeared to be torn about their decision.
Sen. Greg Goode, R-Terre Haute, said he had had two phone calls with Trump as he weighed the redistricting plan. He declared his “love” for the president but condemned “undue pressure.”
Good said he would not vote for the proposal.
“I believe my vote reflects the will of the voters,” he said.