Indiana Senate Republicans say they do not have votes to pass mid-cycle redistricting despite a pressure campaign from the White House, according to a spokesperson for Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray.
“The votes aren’t there for redistricting,” said Molly Swigart, Bray’s spokesperson.
The news comes just days after President Donald Trump held a phone call with reluctant members of the caucus, according to two people close to the sensitive talks. It threatens to upend what has been a nationwide push from the White House to force red states to redraw maps ahead of the midterms.
A person briefed on the talks said Indiana Gov. Mike Braun was inclined to call a special session to redo the state’s maps as early as next week. A spokesperson for Braun did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The people briefed on the issue, granted anonymity to discuss the status of vote wrangling, said the White House conducted a dial-in poll of lawmakers that revealed the majority of Senate Republicans backed mid-cycle redistricting. But one senator cautioned POLITICO that colleagues were confused by the instructions for the survey because the administration did not provide guidance on how to move forward.
One Trump ally close to the talks, granted anonymity to discuss the issue, said the White House believed the poll showed the majority of the holdout caucus supports mid-cycle redistricting. But they cautioned that Bray and his leadership team represent the majority of no-votes.
“If Bray would personally release his leadership to support this, there would be enough votes for this to pass,” the person said.
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. But a person close to the White House, who was granted anonymity to discuss the pressure campaign, disputed that the votes weren’t there.
The “White House has a private whip count from individual calls, expects it will have the votes as it already does in the House, and it expects it to be put up for a vote,” the person said.
Indiana House Republicans are more broadly supportive of the plan after caucusing Tuesday and emerged from those talks with enough votes to move forward with redistricting if a special session is called, according to a third Republican briefed on the matter.
Allies to the White House, such as Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), have warned control of the House rests on whether Indiana can produce two additional Republican-held congressional districts by redoing the maps.
