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'We're after you Bray': Trump targets Indiana GOP leader as Virginia Democrats advance redistricting

Indiana Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray won reelection in 2024 for a term that continues through 2028.
Indiana Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray won reelection in 2024 for a term that continues through 2028.

President Donald Trump targeted Indiana Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray on Saturday for last month’s rejected congressional redistricting plan that would have favored the GOP.

Trump, on the Truth Social platform, said Bray "betrayed the Republican Party, the President of the United States, and everyone else who wants to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! We’re after you Bray, like no one has ever come after you before!"

The renewed criticism follows Friday's vote in Virginia, where the Democratic-controlled legislature passed a constitutional amendment to redraw its own congressional maps before the November midterms. If voters approve the measure in a special ballot referendum, Democrats could be in position to gain as many as four House seats.

Vice President JD Vance also called out Bray, a Republican, for not trying to “fight back against this extraordinary Democrat abuse of power.”

“Now the votes of Indiana Republicans will matter far less than the votes of Virginia Democrats,” Vance posted on X. “We told you it would happen, and you did nothing.”

Indiana Republican U.S. Sen. Jim Banks shared Vance's post.

"We need new leadership in the Indiana State Senate," he wrote on X.

National and state Republican leaders, including Gov. Mike Braun, have said they would seek to primary the Senators who voted against the redistricting plan.

Trump, in the Saturday post, said that he and David McIntosh, the president of the Club for Growth, the anti-tax advocacy group, "will both work tirelessly together to take out Indiana Senate Majority Leader Rod Bray..."

Bray won reelection in 2024 to a term that continues through 2028. He could not immediately be reached for comment Sunday.

Trump has urged Republican-led states to conduct an unusual, mid-decade redistricting effort aimed at helping Republicans hold onto their majority in the U.S. House in this year's midterm elections.

But on Dec. 11, 21 of the 40 Indiana Senate Republicans joined Democrats to defeat a redistricting plan, that included breaking up the Democratic stronghold of Marion County into four sprawling districts. It was the first time Trump's redistricting push has been voted down by members of his own party.

The ongoing political dispute appears to have escalated into reported violent threats against several Indiana Republican lawmakers. Following a Nov. 16 social media post from Trump criticizing lawmakers over the redistricting plan, multiple state senators reported incidents including pipe bomb scares and swatting attempts at their homes and businesses. The Indiana State Police is investigating the incidents.

At the time, legislators condemned the intimidation tactics and said the pressure campaign would not sway their decisions.

The Indiana General Assembly is currently in session.

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