The revolt of Indiana Republicans came after direct months of lobbying from the White House.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Trump warned on his social media platform Truth Social that Republicans who did not support the initiative could risk losing their seats.<\/p>\n
He directly addressed the Republican leader of the state Senate, Rodric Bray, calling him “the only person in the United States of America who is against Republicans picking up extra seats”.<\/p>\n
To liberals, it was a moment of celebration. Keith “Wildstyle” Paschall described the mood on Thursday as “jubilant”.<\/p>\n
“There’s a lot of relief,” the Indianapolis-based activist told the BBC. “People had thought that we would have to move on to a legal strategy and didn’t believe we could defeat it directly at the statehouse.”<\/p>\n
The new map would have redistricted parts of Indianapolis and potentially led to the ouster of Indiana’s lone black House representative, Andr\u00e9 Carson.<\/p>\n
In the weeks before Thursday’s vote, Trump hosted Indiana lawmakers at the White House to win over holdouts.<\/p>\n
He also dispatched Vice-President JD Vance down to Indiana twice to shore up support.<\/p>\n
Nearly a dozen Indiana Republican lawmakers have said they were targeted with death threats and swatting attacks over the planned vote. <\/p>\n
Ultimately, this redistricting plan fell flat in another setback for Trump following a string of recent Democratic wins in off-year elections.<\/p>\n
The defeat appears to have added to Republican concerns.<\/p>\n
“We have a huge problem,” said former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon during his podcast, The War Room.<\/p>\n
“People have to realise that we only have a couple opportunities,” he said. <\/p>\n
“If we don’t get a net 10 pickup in the redistricting wars, it’s going to be enormously hard, if not impossible, to hold the House.”<\/p>\n
Texas was the first state to respond to Trump’s redistricting request. <\/p>\n
After a lower court blocked the maps for being drawn illegally based on race, the Supreme Court allowed Texas<\/a> Republicans to go ahead.<\/p>\n The decision was a major win for Republicans, with the new maps expected to add five seats in their favour. <\/p>\n