Republicans in the Indiana state Senate could give President Donald Trump a major political black eye this week — and the conservative voters who elected them say they don’t mind.
The state Senate is set to gather Monday to start a weeklong process of considering new congressional maps that could deliver the party a clean sweep of Indiana’s nine seats, boosting the GOP’s chances of retaining its narrow US House majority in next year’s midterm elections. How the week unfolds will test Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray’s claim that the party does not have enough votes to pass new maps, despite holding a 40-10 supermajority.
Trump and his political allies have turned the Indiana state Senate’s vote into a loyalty test with dramatic ramifications — with the president vowing to leverage his political might to oust those who break with his wishes in future primaries, and a number of pro-Trump groups and conservative influencers insisting they’ll support those efforts.
But those promises don’t appear to be generating any kind of groundswell of conservative grassroots support for redistricting in Indiana. CNN visited towns across a swath of the state last week and found that many Republican voters — including those with long histories of supporting Trump — are greeting the redistricting debate with a shrug.
Many are like John Badger XIV, the owner of a 106-year-old candy shop in Bray’s hometown of Martinsville and a Republican member of the city council: not opposed to Trump’s position, but not thinking much about it, either.
“I am not against Trump,” he said, adding that he supports the president on tariffs and the economy. “But there’s no need to redo the maps right now. I won’t be mad about it if they do it, but I don’t think it’s right. I just think it should stay where it is and let it go.”
As for Trump’s threats to unseat Bray in a 2028 primary, Badger said there’s little chance of succeeding.
“He’s well liked,” he said. “I think Rod’s doing a great job up there.”
The resistance to Trump’s demands in Indiana could represent the inkling of some Republican voters’ desire for independence from what Trump is dictating for the party, which recently lost two key governor’s races and has seen slippage in special elections. It comes after the House forced Trump’s hand on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files, and a long-time Trump ally, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, made a dramatic break from the president and then announced her resignation.
‘It’s ridiculous … but it’s what the president wants’
In the Indiana redistricting fight, outside groups — including the conservative Club for Growth led by former Indiana congressman David McIntosh, the Charlie Kirk-founded Turning Point USA, and a new organization led by veteran Indiana Republican operative Marty Obst and veterans of Trump’s campaigns — have spent months heaping pressure on Republican senators, including advertisements urging constituents to contact key legislators. Many state senators say they’ve also faced violent threats, including swatting attempts and bomb threats on their homes or businesses.
But the lack of real-life voters motivated by the issue was on vivid display Friday at the Indiana Statehouse, where a Turning Point USA rally for redistricting featuring Gov. Mike Braun, scheduled to take place shortly before the state House passed the new maps on a 57-41 vote, drew only about 100 attendees — multitudes short of the huge crowds that have packed into the Capitol building for Democratic-organized rallies opposing new maps.
Ahead of the Senate’s expected vote next week, CNN spoke to about 50 voters across the districts of four Republican state senators. Two of them, Sens. Jean Leising and Greg Walker, are opposed to new maps, while Sen. Cyndi Carrasco has not weighed in publicly but is widely expected to vote for new maps. Bray, meanwhile, has been in the crosshairs of Trump, who has threatened to support a primary opponent in 2028, and Braun, who has publicly floated supporting a challenge for Bray’s post as the Senate leader.
Indiana Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray discusses details on the Senate Republicans’ bill priorities at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis on January 8. – Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar/USA Today Network/Imagn Images
Those conversations underscored two political realities: Rank-and-file Republicans in this deep-red state generally haven’t soured on Trump. But they aren’t rushing into battle for him, either — and they don’t think this issue will be top of mind when they cast their votes in a state Senate primary.
Unseating Bray over his position on redistricting “would be ridiculous,” said Debbie Myers, a Republican who co-owns Berries & Ivy, a home goods store in Martinsville.
“It’s ridiculous to bring the whole thing up to begin with, but it’s what the president wants,” she said. “It’s wrong, and it’s a waste of money and a waste of these people’s time, and I don’t think it should have happened.”
Myers said she believes Bray — who has insisted there aren’t enough Republican votes in the Senate to pass new maps — is “just being very honest” about the political reality.
“His daddy taught him well,” she said, referring to Bray’s father, Richard, who was a state senator. “He was prepared for the job when he went into it. And I think that that he’s just stating the obvious. He knows his numbers. He’s saying, ‘We don’t have the numbers.’”
Karen Luther, who works at Fables & Fairy Tales, a children’s bookstore, said she is a conservative Republican who supports Trump even though he “is not a Boy Scout.” She’s not opposed to redistricting, because she said she sees it as a tit-for-tat across the political map.
“Everybody acts like this is some horrible thing. Every party has done it. The Democrats go in there, they try to do it. Republicans, they try to do it,” she said. “They probably should just either outlaw it completely or just shut up and let each one do it when they get in there.”
Still, she said, redistricting “is not something that really gets your excitement up,” she said.
“No, I’m not all in a dither,” she said.
However, she said she had much stronger feelings about the Senate president.
“Rod Bray’s done a good job. I would not want to get rid of him,” she said. “He seems like a man of integrity and honor. He’s a Christian. … As far as I can tell, he’s trying to do the right thing. It’s hard. You cannot please everybody.”
Concern over threats
One issue that came up in interviews with Indiana voters of all political stripes is the violent threats some state senators say they have faced. Many voters who spoke with CNN said they did not want to be named because they feared being vocal about the issue could also subject them to threats.
“I don’t want to get caught up in anything ugly,” a shop manager in Southport, in Carrasco’s district, said. “It’s scary, what you see on the news.”
Leising, a 76-year-old conservative Republican from southeastern Indiana who was first elected to the Senate in 1988, has been among the sharpest critics of the tactics employed by Trump’s allies. She said her 14-year-old grandson was the recipient of digital ads criticizing her.
She opposes redistricting in part, she said in a statement, because only a tiny fraction of her constituents who have contacted her support new maps. It’s a sentiment other state senators, including Vaneta Becker of Evansville, have shared with CNN. Sen. Kyle Walker, a moderate Republican from the northeastern Indianapolis suburbs who also opposes redistricting, similarly said his constituents are broadly opposed to new maps, and announced this week he will not run for reelection in 2026.
In Greensburg, in the heart of Leising’s district, the violent threats Leising said she has faced was often the first worry voters brought up when it comes to redistricting.
“Everyone is just really concerned about the temperature,” said Catherine Chmiel-Goetzinger, who manages an art gallery in Greensburg. “It’s gotten to a point where even a Republican is getting that kind of attention, just for doing her job. The Minnesota state official killings were horrible, Charlie Kirk’s killing was horrible. There’s just — there’s no need for that. It’s scary. It is very frightening.”
Jonas Brock, who works at a holiday goods store in Greensburg, said she supports Trump but isn’t interested in the redistricting fight.
“Personally, I don’t really care. I’m tired of hearing it. I just don’t think it’s that important, with everything else going on in the world,” she said.
She laughed when asked if the issue has changed how she thinks of Trump. “No, no,” she said.
Still, Brock said she would keep Trump’s position in mind in future elections. And other Republicans said that while redistricting might not be decisive, it’s something they would weigh when thinking about state Senate primaries.
Chris Robbins, who owns a sporting goods store in Greensburg, said breaking with Trump on redistricting, as Leising has, “would make me look to somebody else.”
“I voted for her in the past. You’ve got to look at the overall picture,” he said. “I mean, that’s the reason we voted for Trump, was his agenda.”
For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
