JUST IN: Trump-Backed Congressional Map Clears Major Hurdle In Red State

The Indiana House signed off Friday on a hard-charging congressional map built to hand Republicans two more seats and put the entire state’s delegation under GOP control, escalating a showdown with lawmakers in the state Senate who say they don’t have the votes to push it through.

The measure cleared the House 57-41. But Senate Republicans have been signaling for weeks that Trump’s redistricting blitz, designed to lock down all nine Indiana districts, doesn’t yet have the support to cross the finish line. The White House has leaned hard on reluctant lawmakers as the former president works to protect his razor-thin House majority heading into the 2026 midterms.

The fight has turned toxic. Several Republicans resisting the overhaul have faced primary threats and harassment. At least 11 GOP elected officials in Indiana have been hit with “swatting” attempts, a dangerous tactic in which false emergency calls summon armed police to a target’s home.

Indiana’s only two Democratic members of Congress, Reps. André Carson and Frank Mrvan, would effectively see their districts carved apart. The GOP plan splits Indianapolis into four districts, diluting the party’s stronghold, and chops up the Democratic-leaning northwest corner of the state.

Rep. Ben Smaltz, the Republican carrying the bill, admitted the map was drawn for political advantage. He said the National Republican Redistricting Trust crafted the proposal, the same group behind Texas’ new lines.

Democrats unloaded for more than three hours in protest.

“This is a direct attack on the system, but more importantly, it’s a blatant tell that you don’t care what Hoosiers want,” said House Minority Leader Phil GiaQuinta.

Democratic Rep. Matt Pierce accused Republicans of trying to erase Democrats from the state’s congressional roster and jamming through a breakneck redistricting process. “Imagine having to be a member of Congress, and when considering issues, having to represent communities in the middle of Indianapolis and communities in the rural areas down along the river, that’s a really hard thing to do,” he said.

House Speaker Todd Huston offered brief support for the bill, but Smaltz stood alone among Republicans in mounting a detailed defense. “While the census anchors the process, nothing in the law prevents a legislature from revisiting maps when circumstances demand it,” he said.

The GOP got a lift Thursday when the Supreme Court allowed Texas to move forward with its new map, a plan that could net Republicans up to five seats in 2026.

Republicans in Missouri and North Carolina have passed new lines expected to add a House seat in each state. Ohio’s updated map could give the GOP a small edge, while a court-imposed plan in Utah is poised to benefit Democrats.

Redistricting fights are also brewing in Florida and Virginia as both parties scramble to shape the battlefield ahead of next year’s elections.

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