Indiana Republicans defy Trump to reject new electoral map
The move was a rare rebuke to the US president, who has been trying to boost his party’s chances of keeping control of the House
The Indiana Senate on Thursday rejected a new congressional map that would have boosted Republican chances of keeping control of the US House of Representatives in next year’s midterm elections, dealing a blow to President Donald Trump’s nationwide push to install more favourable maps.
The vote represented a rare rebuke to Trump by members of his own party, which he has largely ruled with an iron fist as president. The tally was 31-19 against, with more than half of Republican senators joining all 10 Democrats in voting against the bill despite a months-long pressure campaign from the White House aimed at the holdouts.
Trump had threatened to support electoral challengers to any Republican senators who refused to vote in favour of the map, calling several out by name in a series of hostile social media posts leading up to Thursday’s vote.
The map, which passed the Indiana state House last week, was likely to have given Republicans a 9-0 sweep of the state’s US House seats in next year’s midterms, when control of Congress will be at stake.
The redrawn map would have reshaped the two districts currently held by Democrats, including by splitting the state’s largest city, Indianapolis, into four districts, a move that Democrats have said will harm minority voters in particular.
Republican lawmakers who backed the law on Thursday urged other Republicans to pass the bill and help Trump’s agenda in Congress, warning that a Democratic House would pursue dangerous policies.