Spencer Deery’s son was getting ready for school when someone tried to incite police to swarm his home by reporting a false emergency.
Linda Rogers said her home and the golf course her family has run for generations are under threat.
Jean Leising faced a pipe bomb scare that was emailed to local law enforcement.
The three are among about a dozen Republicans in the Indiana Senate whose lives have been turned upside down when President Donald Trump pushes to redraw the state’s congressional maps to expand the party’s power in the 2026 midterm elections.
It was a bewildering and terrifying experience for lawmakers who considered themselves party loyalists and never imagined they would be working in the shadow of violence that has darkened American political life in recent years. Lessing described it as “a very dangerous and daunting process.”
Redistricting usually occurs every ten years following a new national census. Trump wants to speed up the process in an effort to protect the Republican Party’s slim majority in the U.S. House of Representatives next year. His allies in Texas, Missouri, Ohio and North Carolina have backed his plans for a new political line.
Now, Trump’s campaign faces its biggest test yet among die-hard conservatives in the Midwest. While Indiana Gov. Mike Braun and the House are on board, the proposal may not satisfy senators who value civic tradition and independence over concerns about short-term partisan gain.
“When the president of the United States and governors send signals, you want to hear what they have to say,” said Rogers, who has yet to take a position on the redistricting effort. “But that doesn’t mean you compromise your values.”
On Friday, Trump released a list of senators who “need encouragement to make good decisions,” and the conservative campaign group Turning Point Action said it would spend heavily to remove anyone who voted “no.”
After months of turmoil, senators are scheduled to meet on Monday to consider the proposal. The boycott could signal the limits of Trump’s undisputed dominance of the Republican Party.
Threat Shadow Redivision Session
Dirie considers himself lucky. Police in his hometown of West Lafayette knew the senator was a potential target of “swatting,” a dangerous scam that provokes an aggressive law enforcement response when someone reports a false emergency.
So when Diri was targeted last month, as his son and others were waiting for their daily bus to school, police didn’t arrive.
“When there are kids in the area, you can have a SWAT team come in with guns blazing,” he said.
Deery was one of the first senators to speak out against mid-decade redistricting, arguing it interfered with voters’ rights to hold lawmakers accountable through elections.
“This country is going to get uglier,” he said days after Vice President J.D. Vance visited the state in August, the first of two trips to discuss approving new maps with lawmakers.
Indiana Senate Republican leaders said in mid-November that they would not hold a vote on the matter because there was not enough support. Trump lashed out on social media, calling the senators weak and pathetic.
“Any Republican who votes against this important redistricting that could have consequences for America itself should participate in the primary,” he wrote.
The threats against the senator began shortly thereafter.
Republican Sen. Sue Glick, a former local prosecutor who was first elected in 2010, said she had never seen “this kind of rancor” in politics in her life. She opposed redistricting, saying “it smacks of cheating.”
Even supporters of the plan are not immune to threats.
Republican Sen. Andy Zay said his car rental business was the target of a pipe bomb scare the same day he learned he would face a primary challenger who accused Zay of not being conservative enough.
Zai, who spent a decade in the Senate, linked the threat to his criticism of Trump’s efforts to pressure lawmakers. But the White House did not heed his advice to drum up public support for redistricting through a media campaign.
“When you corner us, we don’t change, because you hunt us and threaten us,” Zay said. “For those who decide to defend history and tradition, persuasion tactics do little to encourage them to change their views.”
The White House did not respond to a message seeking reaction to Zai’s remarks.
Trump sees mixed support in Indiana
Trump has won Indiana handily in every presidential race, and Indiana’s leaders are unmistakably conservative. For example, the state was the first to restrict abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
But Indiana’s political culture was never penetrated by Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement. In last year’s presidential primary, about 21% of Republican voters backed Nikki Haley over Trump, even though the former South Carolina governor suspended her campaign two months ago.
Trump also holds a grudge against Indiana’s Mike Pence, who served as the state’s congressman and governor before becoming Trump’s first vice president. A devout evangelical, Pence has faithfully tolerated Trump’s indiscretions and scandals but refused to go along with Trump’s attempt to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s victory on January 6, 2021.
“Mike Pence doesn’t have the courage to do what is necessary,” Trump posted online after angry supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.
Pence has yet to take a public stance on redistricting efforts in his home state. But his predecessor, Republican Mitch Daniels, recently said that was “clearly false.”
The proposed map, released Monday and approved by the state Legislature on Friday, seeks to dilute the influence of Democratic voters by dividing the city of Indianapolis. Parts of the capital would be folded into four separate Republican-leaning districts, including one that would stretch all the way south to the border with Kentucky.
Rogers, a senator whose family owns golf courses, declined to discuss her feelings about redistricting. A soft-spoken business leader from suburban South Bend said she was “very disappointed” by the threats.
Rogers will take center stage Monday as a member of the Senate Elections Committee, the first in the chamber to consider the redistricting bill.
“We need to do things in a civilized way and have polite conversations,” she said.
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Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa, and Vollmert reported from Lansing, Michigan.