Indiana state Senator Liz Brown, R-Fort Wayne, described her colleagues’ decision to reject a House-backed congressional redistricting plan as “devastating” on Thursday.
Analysts had estimated that the proposal could have secured up to two additional U.S. House seats for Republicans in the 2026 midterm elections.
The Indiana Senate voted 31-19 earlier Thursday to defeat the map, with 21 Republicans joining all 10 Democrats to block a plan that would have dismantled the state’s two Democratic-held districts.
The move represented an unexpected setback for President Donald Trump, who publicly urged lawmakers to adopt the redistricting proposal as part of a nationwide GOP-led effort.
Brown told a reporter on Thursday she is still “processing” the outcome, calling it unlike anything she has experienced in her time serving in office.
“It was devastating. That’s all I can say. I have never seen anything like it,” she stated.
Brown emphasized that Indiana is one of the nation’s most reliably Republican states, having supported Trump in three consecutive presidential elections while maintaining supermajorities in both legislative chambers and a Republican governor.
Given this political landscape, she expressed disbelief at why Senate Republicans refused to advance a map passed by the GOP-controlled House.
“I just cannot believe in a state that is so red … we have 40 Republican senators and only 10 Democratic senators and a Republican governor, and the House passed it and we couldn’t get it done,” Brown said. “I can’t explain it.”
Some conservatives suggested prominent Indiana Republicans, including former Governor Mitch Daniels and strategist Cam Savage, might have lobbied against the redistricting effort behind the scenes.
Brown asserted she had no knowledge of such discussions.
“If they were,” she added, “they didn’t talk to me,” noting that she supported the new map from the start.
Brown also indicated many GOP colleagues either misunderstood the stakes or were influenced by external pressures.
“Some people just said, ‘We don’t need to do this. It will all work itself out,’” Brown explained. “I don’t think they understand what this means, how thin our majority [in the House] is. Democrats have been crushing us for years, and we finally poked our head out of the sand and realized we needed to do this.”
“Our voices are being lost. It should have been such an easy vote.”
