Threats pile up as Indiana Republicans confront pressure from Trump on redistricting

While Spencer Deery’s son was getting ready for school, someone attempted to provoke police into swarming his home by making a fake emergency call.

Linda Rogers said there were threats at her home and at the golf course her family has run for generations.

Jean Leising faced pipe bomb scare emailed to local law enforcement.

The three are among about a dozen Republicans in the Indiana Senate whose lives were turned upside down while they were President. Donald Trump trying to redraw the state’s congressional map expand the party’s power In the 2026 midterm elections.

It’s a bewildering and frightening experience for lawmakers who consider themselves loyal party members and never imagined they’d be doing their jobs under the shadow of the violence that has darkened American political life in recent years. Leising called it “a very dangerous and scary process.”

Redistricting normally occurs every ten years after a new national census. Trump wants to speed up the process in hopes of preserving Republicans’ slim majority in the U.S. House of Representatives next year. His allies in Texas, Missouri, Ohio and North Carolina have already gone along with his plans for new political lines.

Now Trump’s campaign faces its biggest test yet in a stubborn pocket of Midwestern conservatism. Indiana Gov. Mike Braun and the House of Representatives agree, but the proposal may fall short with senators who value civic traditions and independence over what they fear are short-term partisan gains.

“When the president of the United States and your governor send signals, you want to listen to them,” said Rogers, who did not explain his stance on the redistricting move. “But that doesn’t mean you have to compromise your values.”

On Friday, Trump released a list of senators who “need encouragement to make the right decision,” and his conservative campaign organization, Turning Point Action, said he would spend heavily to unseat anyone who voted “no.”

Senators are scheduled to meet Monday to consider the proposal after months of turmoil. The resistance could signal the limits of Trump’s unchallenged dominance of the Republican Party.

Shadow threatens redistricting session

Deery considers himself lucky. Police in his hometown of West Lafayette knew the senator was a potential target of “hacking,” a dangerous form of hoax when someone declares a fake emergency to provoke an aggressive response from law enforcement.

So when Deery was targeted last month while her son and others were waiting for their daily bus ride to school, officers didn’t rush to the scene.

“When there were children in the area, you could have SWAT teams come in with weapons,” he said.

Deery was one of the first senators to publicly oppose redistricting in the middle of the decade, arguing that it interfered with voters’ right to hold lawmakers accountable through elections.

“The country would be an uglier place for this,” he said a few days later Vice President J.D. Vance He visited the state in August, the first of two visits to meet with lawmakers about approving new maps.

Republican leaders in the Indiana Senate announced in mid-November that they would not hold a vote on the issue because they would not hold a vote there. there was not enough support For this. Trump lashed out on social media, calling the senators weak and pathetic.

“Any Republicans who vote against this important redistricting, which has a potential impact on America itself, MUST BE PRIORITY,” he wrote.

Threats against senators began shortly after that.

Republican Sen. Sue Glick, who was first elected in 2010 and previously served as a local prosecutor, said she had never seen “this kind of rancor” in politics in her entire life. He opposes redistricting, saying “it’s tainted by fraud.”

Even supporters of the plan are not immune to the threats.

Republican Sen. Andy Zay said his car rental business was being targeted by pipe bomb scares on the same day he learned he would face a primary opponent who accused Zay of not being conservative enough.

Zay, who served in the Senate for a decade, believes the threat was related to his criticism of Trump’s effort to pressure lawmakers. But the White House ignored his suggestions to build public support for redistricting through a media campaign.

“When you corner us, we won’t change because you’re coming after us and threatening us,” Zay said. “For those who have decided to defend history and tradition, persuasion tactics do not encourage them to change their point of view.”

The White House did not respond to messages seeking reaction to Zay’s comments.

Trump gets mixed support from Indiana

Trump has won Indiana handily in every presidential campaign, and its leaders are unquestionably conservative. For example, there was a state first person to restrict abortion US Supreme Court Roe v. After Wade reversed his decision.

But Indiana’s political culture has never been saturated with the sensibilities of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement. 21 percent of Republican voters supported Nikki Haley vs. Trump The former governor of South Carolina last year’s presidential primary, even though he suspended his campaign two months ago.

Trump also holds a grudge against Mike Pence, an Indiana native who served as a congressman and governor in the state before becoming Trump’s first vice president. Pence, a devout evangelical, has staunchly accommodated Trump’s indiscretions and scandals but refused to comply with Trump’s attempt to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s victory on January 6, 2021.

“Mike Pence did not have the courage to do what was necessary,” Trump said online after an angry mob of his supporters breached the US Capitol.

Pence has not taken a public stance on his state’s redistricting efforts. But his predecessor, Republican Mitch Daniels, recently said that was “plainly wrong.”

Recommended mapIt was published on Monday and Approved by the State Assembly On Friday, he is trying to dilute the influence of Democratic voters in Indianapolis by dividing the city. Parts of the capital will be inoculated into four different Republican-leaning districts, one of which extends south to the Kentucky border.

Sen. Rogers, whose family owns the golf course, declined to discuss his feelings on redistricting. A soft-spoken business leader from the South Bend suburbs said he was “very disappointed” by the threats.

On Monday, Rogers will be front and center as a member of the Senate Select Committee, where he will be the first to consider the redistricting bill.

“We need to do everything in a civil manner and use polite discourse,” he said.

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Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa, and Volmert reported from Lansing, Michigan.