The president reaffirmed his dominance within the Republican Party. Most of the Indiana Republicans who opposed the White House’s mid-decade redistricting plan lost in a landslide.
Supreme Court throws out Louisiana legislative map
The Supreme Court has struck down a Louisiana congressional map that could have limited the power of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
President Donald Trump wiped out most Indiana Republicans in the state’s May 5 primary who opposed his plan to redraw the congressional map to maintain control of the House ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Of the seven Republican incumbents on the ballot who opposed the Hoosier state’s new boundaries for the federal delegation in Washington, only state Sen. Greg Good won, while most of the other incumbents lost in landslides.
The president’s allies have spent millions of dollars on normally sleepy state races, underscoring how far the White House is willing to go as Republican-controlled states across the country move rapidly toward creating new boundaries.
Before the results were released, President Trump mocked incumbent members of Congress by calling them “RINOs,” or Republicans in name only, in a post on Truth Social. This is likely to serve as a warning to other Republicans considering overstepping power amid a gerrymandered arms race that intensified last week when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down key provisions of the Voting Rights Act.
Voters in Ohio are also preparing for midterm primaries, with key Senate and gubernatorial races looming in November.
Like Indiana, the Buckeye State also plays a role in a gerrymandered arms race in which voters try out congressional districts that have been redrawn to be more favorable to Republicans.
Here are the key takeaways from this week’s election.
President Trump’s retaliation: Most Indiana lawmakers oppose president and oust him
Mr. Trump and his allies wiped out the opposition clock in five of Indiana’s seven Senate races, but at least one race remained undecided as of late Tuesday night, with some incumbents losing by more than 20 percentage points.
These victories reaffirmed the president’s dominance and influence among Republicans despite public conflicts within the Make America Great Again movement over Iran and the economy.
Groups supporting the president’s redistricting plan, including Hoosier Leadership for America and American Leadership PAC, have donated about $6 million to targeted incumbent lawmakers, according to AdImpact. Other national groups are also joining the fray with direct mail and field work, including Win It Back PAC, an affiliate of the Club for Growth.
That was an insurmountable amount for most lawmakers, including state Sen. Travis Holdman, who represents a district just south of Fort Wayne. He lost by about 22 points to candidate Blake Fichter, who is supported by Mr. Trump.
“This was a tough, heart-wrenching race,” Fichter told USA TODAY Network’s Indianapolis Star.
Among those who fell under the president’s wrath was Jim Buck, a longtime state senator backed by former Vice President Mike Pence, also from Indiana. Buck lost to challenger Tracy Powell by about 30 percentage points.
Massey and other Republican rebels should be careful.
Trump is well known for holding grudges and expecting loyalty, which has been a theme in several Republican primaries this year.
Endorsing the president has paid off well for Republican candidates and leaders like Indiana Gov. Mike Brown, who has poured money into some of the Hoosier state’s challengers, even though some faced death threats for not following the administration’s plan.
“Ultimately, decisions like this have political consequences,” Brown said in a Dec. 11 post on the X Show. “I intend to work with the president to challenge these people who do not represent the best interests of Hoosiers.”
In Georgia’s special election earlier this year to replace former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who had a big fight with President Trump last year, all of the Republican candidates ran away from Ms. Greene and toward the president.
For this reason, there is even more attention on the May 19 primary election. Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie will face off against President Trump-backed challenger Ed Gallerin, a farmer and former Navy SEAL, in a high-profile primary.
“He’s the worst human being,” President Trump said of Massey at a Kentucky rally in March. “Massey is an absolutely terrible member of Congress and, frankly, a terrible person.”
Massey was one of the few House Republicans to vote against war against Iran. He is also one of the conservative figures who supported legislation that forced the Justice Department to release documents related to the Epstein file and voted against the administration’s tax cut bill last year.
The congressman, who leads in most polls, remains aggressive against Mr. Gallerin, who has refused to appear in multiple debates against Mr. Massey.
Can the red wall hold? Republican redistricting tactics
One test for Trump and his allies as they build a red wall to ward off Democrats’ predicted blue wave will be Ohio’s 9th Congressional District, where Republicans will see whether redrawing Congressional boundaries will help.
Whichever Republican candidate wins, she will face Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur, the longest-serving woman in Congress and last re-elected in 2024 by less than 1 percentage point.
The Ohio Legislature redistricted Mr. Kaptur’s district, which stretches along the state’s northern border with Michigan, into a more Republican-leaning district. The seat is currently rated a toss-up by the Cook Political Report, making it one of the few Democratic-held House seats that could pick up Republicans if any seat could become important.
Brown vs. Husted: Key Senate race gets off to an ugly start
Ohio will be crucial for Republicans and Democrats in gaining control of the U.S. Senate, which is becoming more competitive than initially expected heading into the 2026 midterm elections.
For Democrats to gain control in Washington, they need to flip at least four seats, including the Buckeye State, which Trump won by 12 points in 2024.
Former Sen. Sherrod Brown is trying to bounce back from his defeat two years ago and easily won the Democratic nomination. This will lead to a costly and messy general election against incumbent Republican Sen. Jon Husted, who was nominated to fill the seat vacated by Vice President J.D. Vance but is still relatively unknown.
Brown’s first ad was for the Scorcher. The group claims Husted received more money from fellow convicted sex offenders than any other lawmaker, and is seeking links to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
In return, Republicans called attention to the former senator’s record on immigration, saying Brown had voted nearly a dozen times to “protect federal funding for sanctuary cities” and oppose deportation of undocumented immigrants with criminal records.
This ugliness will be further fueled by a flood of campaign contributions from both sides. According to reports, Republican groups have already committed at least $79 million to the race, and Democratic groups such as the Senate Majority PAC have contributed at least $40 million.
Predictions call the Ohio Senate race a close race, and most polls have it as close.
Ohio governor’s new coronavirus infection retrial?
Like the Senate race, the framework for the Ohio gubernatorial election had a largely unexpected conclusion, with Republican Vivek Ramaswamy easily winning and facing unopposed Democrat Amy Acton.
Ohio is not the battleground state it once was, but Democrats are hopeful given Trump’s slumping approval ratings in the state. But what could define this race early on is how voters react to Acton’s role as Ohio health director during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.
The 60-year-old doctor’s work as coronavirus czar received bipartisan praise at the time. Fans even turned her into a bobblehead.
But these days could also inspire plenty of derision from critics, particularly conservatives who remain furious over other lockdowns that have shuttered schools and businesses.
“What disappoints me is someone who can’t differentiate between older Ohioans who may have been at risk from COVID-19 and younger students who are not at risk of death but who are being shut out and are at risk for depression, anxiety, and learning disabilities,” Ramaswamy said in his May 5 victory speech, demonstrating a willingness to revisit the right’s criticism of public health experts during the pandemic.
Contributions: Terry Collins, James Powell, Kate Sharon
