By Joseph Ax
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Indiana Republicans on Friday abandoned a legislative session that had been called to enact a new congressional map, a setback for President Donald Trump’s push for Republican lawmakers across the country to redraw district lines to protect the party’s U.S. House majority next year.
In a statement, Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray, the chamber’s highest-ranking Republican, said there were not enough votes to support redrawing the state’s map and that the Senate would not convene in December for a special session called by Republican Governor Mike Braun, according to local media. Braun responded on X by urging state senators to “show up to vote for fair maps.”
Trump had exerted significant pressure on Indiana Republicans, inviting legislative leaders to the White House and dispatching Vice President JD Vance to the state.
Redistricting typically occurs once a decade to incorporate new population data from the U.S. Census. But Trump launched a nationwide battle over redistricting earlier this year, when Texas Republicans heeded his demand and approved a new congressional map aimed at flipping five Democratic seats in the 2026 midterm elections.
In response, California voters approved a new Democratic-backed map last week that targets five Republican incumbents in direct response to Texas. Other Republican states, including North Carolina and Missouri, have passed new partisan maps, while Democrats in Virginia and Maryland are weighing whether to pursue their own redistricting efforts.
But some Republican lawmakers have balked at joining Trump’s effort. In addition to Indiana, Kansas Republicans failed to gather enough votes to call a special session, and Republicans in Nebraska and New Hampshire have shown little appetite for mid-decade redistricting.
Democrats need to flip only three Republican-held seats next year to win control of the U.S. House.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Paul Thomasch and Alistair Bell)
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