When Spencer Deary first decided to run for a state Senate seat in western Indiana four years ago, he knew he'd be in for some tough times. Senator Deery, however, admits that he never expected anything like this last week, which included attacks from leaders of his own party – such as the Governor of Indiana and the President of the United States – and attack on his family's home on Thursday morning.
But as difficult as the past week has been, Mr Deary says it was not his vote that triggered it all.
After President Donald Trump called for Texas redraw your congressional maps this summer, to create a more favorable map for the GOP ahead of next year's midterm elections, attention quickly turned to Indiana for more GOP seats. Republicans saw an opportunity here, in a state that President Trump won by double digits in the last three elections. With a Republican governor and Republican supermajorities in both state legislatures, the party could win two House seats and create a 9-0 GOP district map.
Why did we write this
Indiana Republican lawmakers have rejected pressure from the White House to redraw their congressional maps mid-cycle. One state senator describes why his conservative values led him to oppose the effort.
The White House has spent significant political capital over the past few months to make this happen. Vice President J.D. Vance flew to Indiana twice to lobby legislative leaders, and Indiana lawmakers, including House leaders, met with Trump. in the Oval Office in August. But November 14Senate President pro tempore Rodrick Bray announced that his chamber does not have enough votes to move forward on redistricting. With 10 Democrats joined by 19 Republicans, senators voted 29-19 to adjourn and not hold a December special session on redistricting at the request of Gov. Mike Brown. unprecedented step in state history and a proxy vote for the Senate Republican position on redistricting.
“For me, it really comes down to this: What is the most basic principle of the Constitution? And that is the idea of popular sovereignty, or the idea that the people choose their rulers. Anything that undermines, violates my oath of office,” says Mr. Deary, who was one of the first senators to oppose mid-cycle redistricting. He knows it fraud is already happening, but it is “especially egregious,” he says, to do it “whenever we want” for fear of the election results.
“I don't take this position because I'm against conservative values,” he says, pointing to his conservative voting record and his 100 percent approval rating among right-wing groups such as Indiana Family Institute And Americans for Prosperity-Indiana. “I accept this because of my conservative values.”
At a time when Republican opposition to Trump's wishes is rare and often futile, it was legislators in the ruby red state who initiated some of the most visible intraparty opposition to a second term. This happened after the Congress vote for release The Justice Department is prosecuting the case against convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. And while many of these GOP lawmakers say they share the president's goals of winning a Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives after the 2026 midterm elections, they worry that redistricting could undermine those efforts and create division at a time when the party should be united.
“I want us to focus on winning the midterm elections,” Mr. Deary says, “but instead we are splitting the party at the worst possible time.”
GOP warns over redistricting
Hoosier legislators aren't the only ones opposing mid-cycle redistricting. Republicans in Nebraska and Kansas and Democrats in Maryland refused to move to the new maps, some citing the same reasons as their counterparts in Indiana.
“It looked like just a partisan maneuver,” Nebraska Republican Sen. Merv Riepe said. told Politico. “I represent my district and I think that’s what democracy is all about.”
“I would rather just stick to principles and stick to my morals and ethics,” Kansas Republican Brett Fairchild. told The New York Times. “That way I can actually look at myself in the mirror and sleep at night. It's not just about getting re-elected.”
But perhaps no state lawmaker has faced more pressure from the White House than the Indiana legislators whom Mr. Trump publicly disgraced on his Truth Social account last week. Between Monday and Tuesday, Trump tweeted about Indiana Republicans four times, calling Sen. Bray a “RINO,” or Republican in name only, who would soon face a “major challenge,” as in “any other politician who will support him in this stupidity“
And on Tuesday, Mr. Deary got just that. Paula Copenhaver, chair Fountain County Republican Party and Director of Government Relations from Lt. Gov. Mika Beckwith announced she was launching a primary re-challenge (she ran against him in 2022). In it press releaseMs. Copenhaver said Hoosiers “watched as weak leadership in the state Senate failed to implement a redistricting plan.” The lieutenant governor has supported her campaign and endorsed White House redistricting plans.
Governor Brown said in an interview with local television on Wednesday that he would “definitely” support a change in Senate leadership. “We can't have a Senate that's always going to be a wet blanket,” he added. The governor warned of “long-term political consequences” for dissenters in the Senate and said he was exploring ways to “compel” them to act, and condemned an earlier attack on another senator. (This week there were four rejecting calls to GOP state senators, including Mr. Deery, with anonymous callers falsely reporting emergencies designed to prompt a large police presence.)
Although the state House of Representatives also adjourned until January, Republican House Speaker Todd Huston said his house has the votes needed to redistrict and advised its members to remain prepared for the special session in December.
“I was a little puzzled because I just don't understand why it's unfair,” says James Bopp, a former Indiana deputy attorney general who also served as vice chairman of the Republican National Committee from 2008 to 2012. He says Indiana Senate Republicans need to think about the national implications of a Democratic-controlled House in 2026.
“The consequences are so dire… We are just one piece of the puzzle of the entire nation,” Mr Bopp said. “I would never ask any politician or person to do anything unconstitutional, illegal, immoral or unethical. Gerrymandering is not any of those things. It's politics.”
Can gerrymandering backfire?
Indiana's refusal comes at a difficult moment for Republican redistricting efforts, with the GOP facing setbacks in several states. Earlier this month, California passed a bill that allows the state to redraw its congressional map and add as many as five Democratic counties, an attempt to counter the Republican Party in Texas. But on Tuesday, a federal court blocked Texas from using the new five-plus Republican district map, finding it an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. The state appealed to the Supreme Court.
This follows a Utah court ruling in early November that struck down the GOP-backed map in one which adds a democratic bias district Now that the GOP has launched a redistricting battle to bolster its efforts next year, Republicans are potentially added four seats nationwide compared to Democrats' six.
That's one thing that worries Mr. Deary: The GOP's mid-cycle redistricting efforts could “backfire.” He began posting videos on Facebook of himself talking to voters, and during one recent walk in the woods, he explained some of his concerns about redistricting. By “changing the math and spreading Republican voters” across two districts currently controlled by Democrats, Republicans could leave themselves vulnerable (a process known as “dummymandering”). “Without Trump on the ballot,” he says, “it's not a clear victory.”
Mr Bray echoed these feelings in an interview with Politico this week. Instead, both Mr. Bray and Mr. Deary say, Republicans should focus on finding a qualified candidate to run in Indiana's 1st Congressional District, which Democrats won by single-digit margins the last two cycles.
Mr Deery says a “considerable amount of money” was spent on robocalls and text messages to his Republican constituents asking them to contact him and ask him to change his mind. But most of the voters who called him after those messages offered their support for his efforts instead.
“Most of the noise didn’t come from voters,” he says. “It goes back to Hoosier culture, which is that we are a state with a strong sense of justice.”
