President Donald Trump said he will back anyone who runs against Indiana’s top Republican state senator, Rod Bray. This came after Republican lawmakers voted down a redistricting plan that was important to Trump’s political strategy.
Speaking from the Oval Office on December 11, 2025, Trump singled out Bray by name, criticising his role in blocking the plan, US Today reports. Bray, who represents Senate District 37, will not face voters again until 2028, but Trump made it clear he plans to play a long game.
The president accused Bray of having “done a tremendous disservice” to Republicans and predicted the veteran lawmaker would struggle to survive his next primary. “I hope he does,” Trump said, adding that he would “certainly support anybody that wants to go against him,” signalling his intent to intervene heavily in the state’s future political battles.
Trump’s redistricting plan suffers major defeat in Republican-controlled chamber
The problem started when the Indiana Senate voted 31-19 to reject the redistricting bill. Republicans control the chamber with a supermajority, but 21 GOP senators voted against the bill while only 19 supported it.
This was a big loss for Trump’s plan to redraw district maps before the next census. The bill would have created two new Republican districts, giving the GOP control of all nine congressional districts in Indiana. This was meant to help Republicans keep control of the House in the 2026 midterm elections.
BREAKING:
— Conservative Brief (@ConservBrief) December 12, 2025
President Trump vows to support primary challengers against all the Indiana Republican Senators who voted down the Congressional redistricting map that would have added two GOP seats:
"The Democrats do it to US! But there's a man named Rod Bray, head of the Senate… pic.twitter.com/iMF2GDy3WL
Before the vote, Trump tried to pressure Republicans to support the bill. He even sent Vice President JD Vance to Indiana to push for it. The administration has faced mounting challenges with cabinet members recently, adding to the president’s frustrations. After losing, Trump downplayed his involvement, saying “I wasn’t working on it very hard” and “wasn’t very much involved.”
Trump just called out Indiana RINOs Rod Bray and Greg Goode for protecting 2 Democrat House seats.
— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) November 16, 2025
Says he will be calling out the others later today.
It’s about to be Primary Season in Indiana and the entire MAGA movement is going to make these RINOs famous for their… pic.twitter.com/CvuOu1s8Yf
Trump started this nationwide redistricting push over the summer. He convinced Texas Republicans to draw a new congressional map even though there was no new census data. California voters then approved their own redistricting to counter Texas by adding five Democratic-leaning districts. Other states have also started similar redistricting efforts.
Despite his anger at the senators, Trump said he still supports Indiana. “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,” he said.
This setback comes as Trump’s policy agenda faces legal setbacks in other areas. Trump criticized the Republican senators who voted against the bill, saying “There’s no reason for doing that. And the Democrats do it to us.”
