Dec. 11, 2025, 9:56 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON ‒ President Donald Trump said he hopes the top Republican in the Indiana state Senate loses his next primary after Indiana rejected a Trump-backed congressional redistricting plan.
Trump, speaking in the Oval Office on Dec. 11, called out by name Indiana Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray, who was among 21 Republican senators who voted to defeat the redistricting bill in the GOP-controlled Senate.
“He’ll probably lose his next primary, whenever that is,” Trump said. “I hope he does, because he’s done a tremendous disservice.”
Trump added that he will “certainly support anybody that wants to go against him.” Bray, who represents Indiana’s Senate District 37, is up for reelection in 2028.
The Indiana Senate’s 31-19 vote to kill the redistricting bill marks a major setback to Trump’s mid-decade gerrymandering strategy for Republicans to hold on to control of the House in the 2026 midterm elections. The bill sought to create two new Republican districts, which would have given the GOP control of all nine of the state’s congressional districts.
Nevertheless, Trump downplayed the results and tried to minimize his involvement. Leading up to the vote, Trump publicly tried to pressure Republicans to support the bill and even dispatched Vice President JD Vance to the Hoosier State.
“I wasn’t working on it very hard. Would have been nice,” Trump said, later adding, “I wasn’t very much involved.”
Trump was unable to convince enough Republican Indiana senators to approve the redistricting plan even though the GOP has a supermajority in the chamber. The 21 Republicans who voted against the bill outnumbered the 19 Republicans who voted for it.
Trump ignited a nationwide redistricting battle during the summer when he convinced Texas Republicans they urgently needed to draw a new congressional map, even though there was no new census data prompting such a move.
California voters then overwhelmingly approved a move to redraw their maps, billing the measure as a means of negating Texas’ gains by adding five blue-leaning districts. Other states, controlled by Republicans and Democrats, have also initiated recent redistricting efforts.
“It’s a great place. I love the people. They love me. We won in a landslide all three times. We got tremendous votes ‒ I got record votes,” Trump said of Indiana, before returning to his disappointment with Republican senators who voted against the bill. “There’s no reason for doing that. And the Democrats do it to us.”
Contributing: Terry Collins of USA TODAY
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
