{"id":59455,"date":"2026-05-06T13:17:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T13:17:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/59455\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T13:17:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T13:17:17","slug":"trumps-indiana-wins-show-his-power-over-gop-with-more-primaries-and-redistricting-debates-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/59455\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump’s Indiana wins show his power over GOP with more primaries and redistricting debates ahead"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five months ago, President Donald Trump<\/a> was stinging from one of the first political defeats of his second term as Republican state senators defied him on redistricting<\/a> in Indiana. Now he has proved he can still punish wayward party members after he endorsed a slate of challengers who defeated almost every one of those lawmakers<\/a> he wanted to dislodge.<\/p>\n

The results will likely bolster Trump\u2019s confidence<\/a> heading into upcoming Republican primaries where he wants to help oust more incumbents, including U.S Sen. Bill Cassidy<\/a> of Louisiana and U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie<\/a> of Kentucky.<\/p>\n

Indiana’s primary also ratchets up the pressure on Republican lawmakers in other states to move aggressively to redraw congressional district boundaries<\/a> before the November elections. Alabama and Tennessee<\/a> have already begun special sessions that could limit Black voters\u2019 strength in Democratic-leaning districts, and some of Trump\u2019s allies in South Carolina want to follow suit.<\/p>\n

State Sen. Linda Rogers, one of the Indiana lawmakers who voted against redistricting and lost her seat Tuesday, said the outcome \u201cwill probably discourage others in other states.”<\/p>\n

\u201cIf someone is going to ask you to take a tough vote, you may think twice about your conscience and what\u2019s best for your community and instead what\u2019s best for you and your career,” she said.<\/p>\n

Redistricting efforts began last year, when Trump saw an opportunity to give Republicans an additional edge, but they were supercharged last week<\/a> when the U.S. Supreme Court gutted a provision of the Voting Rights Act that influenced how political lines are drawn. <\/p>\n

Trump’s success in Indiana, aided by more than $8.3 million in campaign cash in races that usually see very little spending, reaffirmed the president’s continued strength within a Republican Party that he has dominated for a decade, despite his inevitable slide toward lame-duck status and his sagging poll numbers. <\/p>\n

\u201cHistoric night for Indiana as Republicans stood with me and President Trump to nominate some great America First conservatives,\u201d Gov. Mike Braun, R-Ind., posted on social media. \u201cI look forward to winning big in November and serving Hoosiers with this team in the statehouse!\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump backed primary challenges against seven Republican state senators who rejected his redistricting plan in December. Five of the president\u2019s candidates won, and another race remained too close to call. <\/p>\n

Trump was relatively restrained on social media about the voting. He shared a series of photos celebrating the victories of candidates he endorsed in Indiana and Ohio, which also held primaries Tuesday. But he otherwise passed on boasting or renewing his attacks on Massie or Cassidy. <\/p>\n

Massie has been among the members of Congress who frustrated the president by pressing for release of the Jeffrey Epstein case files. Cassidy was among the Republican senators who voted to convict Trump on 2021 impeachment charges after the Jan. 6 riot.<\/p>\n

James Blair, one of Trump’s top political advisers, was more direct, posting an image from the movie \u201cGladiator\u201d depicting Russell Crowe\u2019s ancient Roman character Maximus exulting after a combat victory. <\/p>\n

Rogers, the Indiana state senator, faced almost $670,000 in television advertising against her, funded by political action committees associated with Braun and U.S. Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind.<\/p>\n

She said she did not regret her vote against redistricting. <\/p>\n

“It would have been easy for me to hit that \u2018yes\u2019 button,\u201d she said. \u201cTo hear the number of people who asked me not to, then the number of people who thanked me, would mean I wasn\u2019t representing them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Louisiana\u2019s primary, in which Trump has endorsed U.S. Rep. Julie Letlow over Cassidy, is set for May 16. Kentucky, where Trump has endorsed Massie\u2019s challenger, retired Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein, will hold its primary May 19.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Five months ago, President Donald Trump was stinging from one of the first political defeats of his second…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59456,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[21363,12,35580,1065,24944,664,35583,35582,35584,35585,51,35581,13300,74,1194],"class_list":{"0":"post-59455","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-donald-trump","8":"tag-bill-cassidy","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-ed-gallrein","11":"tag-elections","12":"tag-james-blair","13":"tag-jeffrey-epstein","14":"tag-jim-banks","15":"tag-julie-letlow","16":"tag-linda-rogers","17":"tag-mike-braun","18":"tag-politics","19":"tag-russell-crowe","20":"tag-thomas-massie","21":"tag-trump","22":"tag-washington-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116527827840560609","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}