Indiana Senators who opposed redistricting wiped out by Trump-backed challengers

Eight Indiana state Senators who voted against the redistricting plan pushed by the Trump administration were on the ballot in Tuesday’s primary elections, and five of them were unseated by challengers backed by President Donald Trump.

After Republican attempts to gerrymander Indiana even further failed last year, Trump and Gov. Mike Braun (R) vowed to support primary challengers for the Senators on the ballot this year. Although 21 Republicans voted down the new map last December, only eight of them are up for reelection this year.

Trump’s efforts largely succeeded in the Hoosier state. Below are the six senators who were ousted on Tuesday:

Daniel Dernulc (R-Highland) lost to Trevor De Vries
James Buck (R-Kokomo) lost to Tracey Powell
Linda Rogers (R-Granger) lost to Brian Schmutzler
Travis Holdman ((R-Markle) lost to Blake Fiechter
Greg Walker (R-Columbus) lost to Michelle Davis

Trump did not endorse Sen. Rick Niemeyer’s (R-Lowell) opponent even though he voted against redistricting. On Wednesday morning, Decision Desk HQ and several other outlets reported that Niemeyer lost his race to challenger Jay Starkey.

State Sen. Greg Goode (R-Terre Haute) was the only incumbent who voted against redistricting to convincingly win his primary with 53.5% of the vote. Before making his opposition to the gerrymandering plan public, Goode held a town hall in his district where none of the participants who attended supported mid-decade redistricting.

Sen. Spencer Deery’s (R-West Lafayette) race was too close to call as of Wednesday morning, when he was leading by just three votes with 99% of the ballots in.

Braun praised the results in a social media post on Tuesday night.

Historic night for Indiana as Republicans stood with me and President Trump to nominate some great America First conservatives. I look forward to winning big in November and serving Hoosiers with this team in the statehouse! 🇺🇸 https://t.co/fPt5DaElVU

— Mike Braun (@braun4indiana) May 6, 2026

The incumbents were supported by Senate President Pro Temp Rodric Bray, who led the redistricting opposition last year. After the elections, he said the money spent against the incumbents was a major factor in the election results.

“The amount of money that was spent in Indiana is material, it matters, and that was very, very difficult to overcome,” Bray told the Indiana Capital Chronicle. “We worked really hard. Our candidates worked really hard to get their message out, but the voters spoke, and we’ll deal with that in the coming days and months.”

Total spending in the Indiana Senate primaries exceeded $13 million, which is unusually high for state legislature primaries. Roughly $250,000 was spent on Indiana Senate primaries in 2024 according to AdImpact.

Redistricting is now possible in Indiana

Trump began pressuring Indiana’s GOP leaders to redistrict in July, sending administration officials like Vice President JD Vance to the state to discuss the issue. Even though there was resistance among members of his party, Braun launched a special session in December to gerrymander Indiana’s Congressional maps even more. The new map could have flipped the two seats in the state held by Democrats, and given Republicans the chance to win all of the state’s nine Congressional seats in 2026.

Trump repeatedly bashed the Republican dissenters on social media, calling them RINOs (Republicans in name only) and threatening to primary them if they didn’t support redistricting. Several lawmakers, including Goode, Deery, Dernulc and Niemeyer, faced harassment and threats after Trump’s repeated attacks.

In December, 21 Republican senators voted with the chamber’s Democrats against a bill to redraw Indiana’s Congressional map in a 19-31 vote (26 “yeas” were needed to pass it). Even if Deery wins his race, Braun would likely have enough votes in the state Senate to pass a new map next year since Trump-backed former state Rep. Jeff Ellington won an open seat in Indiana’s 39th Senate district.