President Donald Trump may have thought he had sufficiently purged the Indiana state senators who stood up to him on his gerrymandering plan — but it may not be so simple.
After a majority of GOP lawmakers in the upper chamber refused to pass his plan to redraw the state's congressional districts to delete two Democratic seats, Trump endorsed seven primary challengers to knock off lawmakers who said no, and six of them won their races, which in theory ought to be just enough seats to pass the map if it's debated again next session — assuming all of those six go on to win the general election against Democratic opponents, which itself isn't a guarantee.

But according to Star City News, following the election results this week, state Sen. Ron Alting — a lawmaker who got Trump's endorsement after voting in favor of redistricting — revealed he was actually against it the whole time and only voted yes because he knew it would fail regardless of his vote.
"I feel terrible that I let some people down on my vote on redistricting. I hope that I'll be able to make that up to them. But, it's an honor, an incredible honor to represent my hometown and Carroll County," he said.
This admission caused a stir among political observers.
"Remember how I told people when doing math for 2028 redistricting to potentially factor in another added No vote?" wrote election analyst Isaiah Walker on X. "Yup lol. Senator Alting (R-Lafayette) knew it was going to fail first time and voted in favor so he could land a Trump endorsement."
Trump's aggressive pressure campaign on Indiana lawmakers to redistrict led to ugly moments last year, including violent threats and swatting attacks on many of the state senators who did not commit to support the measure.


