Indiana’s governor said he’s concerned that his state could face political ramifications — potentially, a loss of federal benefits — unless it forces through a mid-decade redraw of its congressional districts ahead of next year’s midterms.
Gov. Mike Braun, a Republican, is facing backlash after he told an Indiana radio station that there could be “consequences” if state Republicans don’t quickly move on the Trump administration’s demands.
Trump has urged GOP-controlled states to help in next year’s electoral races by redrawing districts in ways that favor Republicans — in some cases, as with Texas and Missouri, by diluting the power of nonwhite voters. The administration has had Indiana in its sights, with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance reportedly pressuring Indiana lawmakers — some of whom have been skeptical — to get on with the rigging already.
Braun framed it as an offer Indiana can’t refuse.
“If we try to drag our feet as a state on it, probably, we’ll have consequences of not working with the Trump administration as tightly as we should,” he said on WOWO radio.
In a sit-down with the WPTA television station, Braun made clear that he was suggesting his state could miss out on “benefits” from the federal government — and specifically mentioned the Department of Agriculture:
That just means I think the Trump administration, for what it’s trying to do, if you’re not kind of getting involved as well as you can on the political side, you probably are not going to be the first call when it comes to the benefits of — just like we’re one of five states now, as the Agriculture Department moves its bureaucracy into the interior; we’re one of those five states.
Trump’s attempts to commandeer American universities by withholding funding, along with his support for defunding federal programs he and his allies dislike, have proved that he and his administration are willing to deny benefits to anyone who doesn’t fully capitulate. And Braun’s remarks, in fact, portray Trump’s government as classically authoritarian — the type that would put a state’s federal “benefits” at risk unless it acts in the illiberal ruler’s interests.
“Mike Braun says if Indiana doesn’t gerrymander our congressional maps like Trump wants, there could be ‘consequences’ from the feds,” the Indiana Democratic Party wrote on X on Wednesday. “Are Braun and Indiana Republicans worried the feds won’t approve toll roads? Would that be the ‘consequences’?” The governor’s remarks certainly suggest he’s fearful of the repercussions of not cooperating with Trump on this overtly antidemocratic gambit. Braun has tried to portray himself as neutral when it comes to Trump’s redistricting push and has publicly said he’d support a proposal for gerrymandered districts if Indiana Republicans want it. But in a seemingly revealing remark Tuesday to the WSBT television station, the governor said he had wanted the process to be “somewhat organic,” suggesting that a little outside pressure and influence — or even coercion — wouldn’t be beyond the pale in his mind.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.
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