President Trump on Tuesday urged Indiana Republican Gov. Mike Braun to push redistricting, saying he “must produce” more GOP congressional seats.
“I am working with Governor Mike Braun and other Indiana Republicans on picking up two Republican Congressional seats. The Governor, a good man, must produce on this, or he will be the only Governor, Republican or Democrat, who didn’t,” Mr. Trump said on social media.
He went on to say that he won Indiana “in a landslide” and that state Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray, whom he called a RINO (Republican in name only), “doesn’t care about keeping the Majority in the House in D.C.”
Mr. Trump warned that Mr. Bray, who is up for reelection in 2028, “will have a primary problem, as will any other politician who supports him in this stupidity.”
Mr. Braun, a former U.S. senator, spoke to Mr. Trump on Monday and released a statement saying he was “committed” to working on the redistricting issue and criticized Republicans in the state Senate for not siding with the president.
“I just had a great call with President Trump! I told him I remain committed to standing with him on the critical issue of passing fair maps in Indiana to ensure the MAGA agenda is successful in Congress,” Mr. Braun wrote in a statement on X.
“Indiana’s State Legislators must show up for work and take a public vote for fair maps to counter the gerrymandering in California and Illinois,” he wrote.
“But the Indiana State Senate is hiding behind closed doors and refusing to even bring redistricting to a vote,” he continued. “Hoosiers deserve to know where their legislators stand and expect them to show up for work, not walk out and hide in the dark.”
Mr. Trump caused a national redistricting fight after asking Texas Republicans to redraw their congressional map this past summer.
That effort caused California Democrats to launch a ballot initiative to allow for the state’s Democratic supermajority Legislature to redraw its congressional map without the input of an independent commission.
Indiana Republicans have been visited twice by Vice President J.D. Vance in Indianapolis to discuss the redistricting possibilities.
Redistricting advocates want Indiana lawmakers to establish a map that favors Republicans in all nine of the state’s congressional districts based on 2020 census data.
The present congressional maps drawn by Republicans in 2021 have a 7-2 Republican majority, with Democratic Reps. Frank Mrvan in the 1st District and Andre Carson in the 7th District.
