'Pressure is working': Pete Buttigieg says Indiana Republicans 'ashamed' of Trump's demand

Indiana Republicans are “ashamed” to go along with President Donald Trump’s demand for lawmakers to redraw its congressional districts, argued former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg Friday as the White House increases its pressure campaign on state lawmakers.

The Trump administration has doubled down on its efforts to pressure Indiana lawmakers to redraw its districts in an attempt to bolster the GOP’s prospects in the upcoming midterm elections, similar to what Texas lawmakers adopted in August, sparking a response from California in what has been called a “redistricting battle.”

And yet, despite the Trump administration planning to pressure Indiana to redraw its districts in a GOP-friendly manner as early as mid-August, state lawmakers remain hesitant to go along with Trump’s demand, including many Republican lawmakers, leading to the White House sending Vice President JD Vance to the state’s capitol on Friday to continue discussions on potential redistricting.

“For months now, Donald Trump and JD Vance have been pressuring Indiana to redraw its maps to give them a further unfair advantage in the midterm elections for control of Congress, but so far, even in deep-red Indiana, even where there is a Republican supermajority in the Legislature, they haven’t done it,” Buttigieg said Friday in a video posted to social media.

“I think the reason they haven’t done it is that they are ashamed of what Donald Trump and JD Vance are asking them to do… This has clearly become such a problem for Indiana Republicans and for the White House that JD Vance has to personally go there to try to get them to do something that they know deep down is wrong.”

Trump’s campaign has proved successful thus far, with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signing the state’s new congressional district map into law back in August, giving Republicans as many as five new seats in the House of Representatives. California, however, has responded in kind by passing a measure that would redraw its own districts, and potentially boost Democratic House numbers by five seats as well.

And, while Texas Republicans were quick to get on board with Trump’s plan, Indiana Republicans have remained more hesitant, and to such an extent that the White House has even devised a plan to oust dissenting Indiana GOP lawmakers, according to a White House insider.

Trump’s redistricting push in the state has, so far, failed to gain traction, and according to Buttigieg, the fact that Vance is visiting the state in person is yet another sign that pushback against the White House’s redistricting efforts is working.

“This tells us the political pressure is working, that it’s making a difference,” he said. “That’s why the vice president has to personally get involved, and that’s why we need to stay involved too. It is not too late to stop this extreme plan from taking effect. We need to continue raising our voices and demanding that elected officials do better by the people they represent.”