The start of President Donald Trump’s retaliation tour has been painful.
In Tuesday night’s primaries, at least five Republican state senators lost because they refused to follow Trump’s plan to redraw the state’s congressional boundaries.
For MAGA defectors in one of America’s most conservative states, the loss of a group of state lawmakers who teamed up with Democrats to undermine the President’s preferred map is a terrifying message.
Long-time Senator Travis Holdman, the chamber’s Majority Caucus Chair and third-ranking Republican, was ousted by real estate agent Blake Fiechter.
In other news, Senators Greg Walker and Dan Dernulc were ousted by Trump-backed Michelle Davis and insurance salesman Trevor De Vries, respectively. Linda Rogers and Travis Holdman, the incumbent senators, were defeated by Trump’s selection of Brian Schmutzler and Tracey Powell.
In all, Trump’s political campaign targeted seven Republican senators from Indiana.
“Trump-backed Republicans are steamrolling the anti-redistricting faction in Indiana,” said Zachary Donnini, head of data science at VoteHub. “It’s a wipeout so far.”
After months of preparation, the conflict escalated into a redistricting proxy battle that made Indiana’s Senate body a national hot spot.
On April 16, 2026, US President Donald Trump raises his fist following a roundtable discussion on his “no tax on tips” policy at the AC Hotel Las Vegas Symphony Park in Las Vegas, Nevada.
An overview of the Indiana Statehouse’s exterior in Indianapolis on April 23, 2025
An AdImpact X post that details the amount spent on the Indiana State Senate elections
The red state redistricting effort to add two seats to the Republican total was essentially killed when the Indiana Senate rejected the proposed revised map in a 31–19 vote in December, with 21 Republicans joining all 10 Democrats to stop it.
The president of the Indiana Federation of Republican Women, Chloe Anagnos Pierce, told the Daily Mail on Tuesday that “incumbents who didn’t vote in favour of redistricting defied the wishes of their constituents.”
“In the end, the Republican base supported redistricting by removing these individuals from office. To preserve these seats red, it is now up to our base to show up in November, she continued.
Republican Indiana State Senator Greg Goode, who represents the 38th district, defeated Trump-backed opponent Brenda Wilson to maintain his position.
In the past, no president would have considered targeting Rodric Bray, the Senate president pro tempore from Indiana.
Bray is a humble small-town lawyer and former Sunday school teacher who is well-liked by Indiana politicians. His family has represented Indiana almost continuously since 1951.
However, he was targeted by Trump because he refused to back his redistricting initiative.
Trump called him a “total RINO” in January and promised to “work tirelessly” to get rid of him. However, since Bray won’t be up for reelection until 2028, the White House’s plan was to discredit Bray’s Senate allies in order to deprive him of his leadership role.
Races that typically attract tens of thousands of participants were flooded with millions of dollars. Bray lowered his head and declined to engage in rhetorical combat with Trump.
Another Republican from the Hoosier State, Indiana State Senator Michael Bohacek, who is not running this year and was not on the ballot, likewise promised to vote against a draft congressional map that would have eliminated two Democratic seats due to the president’s divisive statements.
In an attempt to maintain a Republican majority in Washington, the suggested map was part of a redistricting process.
Since the president’s political party usually loses seats in midterm elections, Trump has put pressure on Republican-led states to help him maintain power after the elections in November of next year so he won’t have to spend his final two years in office as a lame duck or, worse, face another impeachment trial.
Bohacek criticised the president in a statement for more personal than political grounds.
The state senator from Indiana denounced Trump’s remarks after the president criticised his management of immigration from Somalia and other nations and referred to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’ 2024 running mate, as a slur for persons with intellectual disabilities.
Walz is also a father to his son Gus, who suffers from anxiety, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and a nonverbal learning problem. “This is not the first time our president has used these insulting and derogatory references and his choices of words have consequences.” In a Facebook post, Bohacek stated that he is a father to a girl with Down syndrome and said, “I will be voting NO on redistricting. Perhaps he can use the next ten months to convince voters that his policies and behaviour deserve a congressional majority.”
Trump was infamously accused of making fun of a disabled New York Times writer during his 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump is just beginning his campaign of retaliation. He and his political operation intend to unseat Representative Thomas Massie in Kentucky and Senator Bill Cassidy in Louisiana later this month.
After the riot on January 6, 2021, Trump was impeached, and Cassidy was one of seven GOP senators who voted to convict him. Trump’s long-time annoyance, Massie, has repeatedly criticised his administration for its unwillingness to make the Jeffrey Epstein materials public.
