Indiana Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray is in the midst of the greatest political maelstrom of his seven-plus years as the chamber’s leader, facing President Donald Trump’s ire over congressional redistricting.
Bray announced Tuesday that the Senate would meet the week of Dec. 8 to possibly consider redrawing Indiana’s current U.S. House map — under which Republicans have a 7-2 majority — to improve the GOP’s chances of capturing all nine seats. That move came after a deeply divided Senate had voted last week to scrap a December session, with Bray maintaining that too few Republican senators supported redistricting for it to clear the Senate.
Things to know about Bray:
As Senate president pro tempore, he is leader of the Senate’s majority party (which has been the Republicans since 1979). Bray presides over Senate sessions when the chamber’s president, Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith, is absent. But Bray’s true Statehouse power comes from his authority to pick committee chairs, direct bills to particular committees and broadly set the Senate’s agenda.
Republican senators chose Bray as president pro tem in 2018 following David Long’s decision to step down after 12 years in the office. Bray’s been officially elected by the full Senate to the position each two years since then, with Democrats, by practice, not opposing the Republicans’ pick.
Bray was first elected to the Senate in 2012 and rose quickly within its ranks. Long bypassed many more-senior senators to pick Bray for the No. 2 position of majority floor leader in 2017. That set the stage for his jump into the president pro tem post the following year.
The 56-year-old Bray’s typical calm demeanor obscures his resolve, a former Senate colleague says. “Rod has a quiet confidence about him,” said Jim Merritt, an Indianapolis Republican who served 30 years in the Senate until resigning in 2020. “When he became pro tem, I think a lot of people thought that he was too nice. I think they judged it wrong. I think when people step out of line, if you will, he has quietly disciplined, I’m not going to say punish, but disciplined them.”
Bray is from Martinsville, graduating from Martinsville High School and Indiana University before receiving a law degree from Valparaiso University. An Indiana attorney since 1994, he joined his now-retired father’s law firm before running for office and maintains a Martinsville law practice. He is married with two sons.
Politics is the family business. Bray succeeded his father, Richard Bray, in the Senate seat. The elder Bray served 18 years in the Indiana House, followed by two decades in the Senate. Rodric Bray’s grandfather, William Bray, served 24 years in the U.S. House before losing a reelection race in 1974.
The impact of the redistricting fight on the Legislature colors Bray’s decision making. “I have a deep and abiding regard for this institution and our democratic process, and that’s a result of my grandfather, my father and my family,” Bray told reporters last week. “I always want to treat it with the utmost respect, which is what I’m trying to do here.”
Why not just hold a Senate vote on redistricting? “When there’s an issue, if we know we don’t have the votes for it, we don’t typically come in (for a vote),” Bray said. “This, I recognize, is a little bit of a different issue. It’s got a little more attention than some of our even more public bills. But that is typically how we handle that when we don’t have the votes to pass it.”
Bray represents a heavily Republican district in central Indiana that includes all of Morgan County, where Martinsville is the county seat, and parts of Johnson, Greene and Putnam counties.
Bray won reelection last year to a term running until November 2028. That puts Trump’s threat to support a Republican primary challenger to Bray on hold for a while. Bray faced an active 2024 primary opponent but won with 63% of the vote.
He’s held off a previous challenge to his Senate leadership. That happened in 2022 when Bray removed then-Sen. Mark Messmer of Jasper from the majority floor leader position after disagreements over handling of the near-total abortion ban bill. Bray defeated Messmer a few months later in a vote among Senate Republicans to remain their top leader. Messmer left the Senate last year for his successful race for a U.S. House seat.
On dealing with Trump about redistricting (and arguing that Republicans should, instead, focus on trying to defeat Democratic Rep. Frank Mrvan in northwestern Indiana’s current 1st District): “I’ve had a couple conversations with the president. Honored to talk to the president, frankly. I know that he’s passionate about this issue. I’ve explained to him … that we want to be helpful. We want to see a Republican majority in the House of Representatives, and this is the best way forward, as we see it.”
About his wheels: Bray for many years drove a Jeep Wrangler between Martinsville and the Statehouse. His favorite ice cream flavor is vanilla with fudge stripes.
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