The day Indiana’s Republicans grew a spine
A surprising moment of backbone from the Indiana GOP hints at Trump’s waning grip on the party he’s spent a decade terrorizing.
It might be a stretch to say Indiana Republicans gave Donald Trump the middle finger when they voted down a Trump-favored congressional redistricting plan — but at least finally found the courage to semi-politely say “no”. The Indiana state Senate, despite months of intense pressure from the village idiot, J.D. Vance, Mike Johnson, and allied political action committees, rejected a mid-decade redistricting proposal that would have dismantled the state’s two Democratic U.S. House districts and handed Republicans a clean sweep of all nine seats. In the end, 21 Republican senators joined all 10 Democratic senators and voted down the plan 31-19.
This wasn’t just an idle slap in the face — it came after Trump openly threatened to fund primary challengers against GOP legislators who opposed his push, and after national conservative groups poured money into the battle. The proposed map had already weaseled its way through a semi-cowardly Indiana House, but it collapsed on the Senate floor when enough Republicans balked at the idea of reshaping districts mid-decade just to boost party advantage and protect a narrow, batshit crazyHouse majority.
Let’s be clear: these Indiana Republicans didn’t flip Trump off with a flashy slogan. They didn’t tell him to fuck off the moment he showed up asking for support. But when the moment came, they refused to cave — even under direct pressure from Trump, the White House, and allied PACs, and even after threats of primary challenges loomed over their heads. That’s still a hell of a lot more backbone than most almost any GOP legislators on Capitol Hill have shown.
Yes, Republicans are completely responsible for the political mess we’re in today. But this vote — the first time a Republican-controlled state legislature has outright rejected Trump’s redistricting push — shows something is shifting. It suggests that at least some GOP lawmakers are finally recognizing Trump’s political toxicity and the disconnect between his tactics and their constituents’ priorities. The era of unquestioned Trump dominance over every corner of the GOP might be fraying — and if that’s true, this Indiana vote could be one of the first visible cracks.