Trump's redistricting gamble faces reckoning as GOP holdouts claim vindication
Under intense pressure from the White House and conservative activists, Indiana Republicans resisted an effort to redraw the state's congressional map to favor the GOP ahead of the midterms. Now,...
By Fox News · Fox News
Under intense pressure from the White House and conservative activists, Indiana Republicans resisted an effort to redraw the state's congressional map to favor the GOP ahead of the midterms. Now, with Republicans reeling from major election losses, a state lawmaker who helped block the plan believes the opposition may have spared Indiana's GOP delegation a political wipeout. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance pushed Republican-led states to redraw congressional maps mid-decade, but the strategy failed to deliver several anticipated pickups as Democrats flipped seats previously considered safely Republican. Indiana Senate President Pro Tempore Rod Bray, R-Martinsville, who helped lead opposition to the proposed redraw, told Fox News Digital that the plan could have devastated the state's Republican congressional delegation. "[H]ad we made a change to redistricting, we'd've ended up with something like 8-1 or 7-2 [favoring Democrats] — I really do believe that," Bray said. REDISTRICTING EFFORTS BLOW UP IN REPUBLICANS' FACES AMID HISTORIC HOUSE LOSSES Vance personally pressed Indiana Republicans to redraw their congressional districts, visiting Indianapolis twice and meeting privately with lawmakers, including Bray. Trump also advocated for a redraw and singled out Bray while warning Republican holdouts that they could face MAGA-backed primary challengers. Fox News Digital contacted the White House and the vice president's office for comment but did not receive a response before publication. North Carolina offered a prominent example of the risks Republican mapmakers faced as Democrats won districts the GOP had expected to hold. Former North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Kings Mountain, helped engineer the state's Republican-friendly redistricting strategy, only to lose his own congressional seat to Democratic political newcomer LaKesha Womack. Moore did not respond to a request for comment. National Republican Congressional Committee C…