Trump Says Indiana Governor ‘Must Produce’ on Redistricting

In an X post, Gov. Mike Braun said he is committed to working with the White House to redraw congressional districts, and criticized the state Senate.

Then-Senate hopeful Mike Braun speaks at President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again rally in Evansville, Ind., on Aug. 30, 2018. Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that Indiana Gov. Mike Braun must do more to make sure that the state’s Republican-controlled Senate holds a vote on redistricting after the state this past week failed to move forward on the plan.

“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,” Trump said in a Tuesday statement on his social media platform Truth Social.

Also in the post, Trump noted that he won Indiana by large margins in 2024, and disparaged the state Senate’s Republican leadership, building on a post that he issued over the weekend.

On Monday, Braun said in a post on X that he is committed to working with the White House on the redistricting bid and criticized the Indiana state Senate over the matter.

“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,” Braun wrote on social media, referring to the Trump-backed slogan of “Make America Great Again.”

Lawmakers in the state should “take a public vote for fair maps to counter the gerrymandering in California and Illinois,” Braun said, referring to backing from governors in those states to ensure more Democratic congressional seats. Voters in California recently voted in favor of a Democratic-sponsored referendum that would allow the state to redistrict, a move pushed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“But the Indiana State Senate is hiding behind closed doors and refusing to even bring redistricting to a vote,” added Braun, a former Republican U.S. senator from Indiana. “Hoosiers deserve to know where their legislators stand and expect them to show up for work, not walk out and hide in the dark.”

Amid the push to create a new map, Republican state Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray said in a statement to multiple news outlets on Nov. 14 that there aren’t enough votes to support the effort. Although there was “very serious and thoughtful consideration” on redistricting over the past several months, Bray said, the Senate won’t reconvene in December.

His comment drew pushback from Trump on Sunday, who wrote on Truth Social that any Republicans who object to the redistricting efforts should be ousted during primary elections.

Trump’s comment comes as a panel of federal judges on Tuesday ruled that a new map drawn by Republicans in Texas cannot be used during the 2026 midterms.

“The public perception of this case is that it’s about politics. To be sure, politics played a role in drawing the 2025 Map. But it was much more than just politics. Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 Map,” the Nov. 18 ruling said. Republicans are expected to file an appeal.

Aside from Texas, both North Carolina and Missouri created new maps to add potentially new Republican seats in the U.S. House.

Indiana Republicans, who hold a supermajority in both legislative chambers, have been under pressure to redraw the state’s congressional districts since August. Vice President JD Vance recently made two trips to Indianapolis to speak with lawmakers, and legislative leaders have met with Trump in the Oval Office.

The Epoch Times contacted Bray’s office for comment on Tuesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.