Former Indiana Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post Wednesday night encouraging his home state’s Senate Republicans, currently opposed to mid-cycle redistricting, to stand firm and not give in to pressure from the White House.
In it, Daniels, who has rarely made political statements since leaving office, argues that the only reason to redraw congressional districts mid-cycle would be to correct some sort of “obvious injustice.”
“Republicans drew this map and have no injustice to complain about; with about 60 percent of the total votes cast in the state Congress, they won seven out of nine House seats,” he wrote, before asserting that there was no possible way to reform the lines around Indianapolis, an area that the Trump administration is pressuring Indiana Republicans to target for a new map, which could reliably flipping the area saturated with Democratic voters for Republicans. He warned of the consequences of trying to redraw the lines in the northwest corner of the state as well.
“No amount of line-drawing artistry can turn this area into a Republican seat, which leaves the northwest corner of the state, where the Democratic margin was in the mid-1950s,” he wrote. “It is conceivable that a computer could create a winnable Republican district. This attempt, which might not even work, would, I am convinced, come at the expense of public disgust; Hoosiers, like most Americans, place a high value on fairness and react badly to its blatant violation.”
As TPM reported today, many of President Trump’s supporters in the Indiana Legislature are taking into their own hands the pressure campaign that the White House has been orchestrating for months. Some have publicly threatened fellow Republicans in the state Senate who oppose Trump’s efforts to align with the national party and help Republicans retain the House of Representatives in 2026. (As TPM has often noted, this whole rush to steal the House does not suggest that Republicans have much confidence in how the 2026 midterm elections will play out.)
The problem with the intimidation approach: The White House has been actively courting Republicans in the state Legislature since August in an attempt to force them to redraw district lines for the two seats Indiana Democrats hold in the House of Representatives. Vice President JD Vance visited the state twice to assert the administration’s point of view. And yet, they still don’t have the votes to pass new maps. The governor’s office announced this earlier this week.
Daniels is the only high-profile Republican politician I’ve seen so far who is publicly offering support to Republican members of the state Senate who don’t want to participate in Trump’s effort to rig the midterm elections by redrawing congressional boundaries in a way that predetermines the results.
“I do not underestimate the pressure Indiana’s leaders are under, and I sympathize with them in the difficult situation they face, but I hope they convey this idea quietly and respectfully. Their duty is to the citizens and the future of our state, not to a national political organization or a temporary occupant of the White House,” Daniels concluded in his Post article. “And by the way, doing the right thing would really be its own reward.”
—Nicole LaFond
Virginia Dems will redraw the maps
Virginia Democrats are considering taking the first steps to redraw some congressional districts to potentially give their party two or three additional seats in the House of Representatives. Until now, Virginia has not been at the top of Democrats’ list of potential countermeasures to offset the impacts of Trump’s national redistricting plan.
Democratic state lawmakers announced their plans today, making Virginia the second state where Democrats are trying to fight Trump’s efforts to give Republicans an advantage in the midterms. Read more from the New York Times:
No other Democratic states have begun redistricting proceedings, while several Republican states have drawn new maps or are considering doing so.
Democrats now hold six of Virginia’s 11 congressional seats. Redistricting could give the party two or three additional seats, depending on how aggressive the mapmakers are in their redrawing effort.
“We are reversing the actions of the Trump administration,” said Virginia Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell.
—Nicole LaFond
Trump listens to his rich friends in San Francisco
Trump on Thursday backed away from his threats to send federal law enforcement to San Francisco, sparing the city for now from the same assault he’s targeting other blue cities across the country under the guise of carrying out immigration raids and supposedly cracking down on crime. He made the announcement in a Truth Social article in which he acknowledged that his wealthy tech friends had persuaded him to leave the new mayor, Daniel Lurie, alone for now.
“The people of San Francisco have come together to fight crime, especially since we started addressing this very unpleasant subject. Great people like Jensen Huang, Marc Benioff and others have called to say that San Francisco’s future is great. They want to take a chance.” So we’re not going to make San Francisco jump on Saturday. Stay tuned!
—Nicole LaFond
Shipping from Lower Manhattan
Here’s a report from my colleague Hunter Walker, who was on the ground outside 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan for the second night in a row Wednesday evening. The building has become known as the place where the Trump administration unceremoniously rounds up immigrants before and after their court appearance.
Wednesday night was quieter than Tuesday night, when federal law enforcement conducted a massive immigration raid several blocks down Canal Street, a scene that New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams (D) called “overbearing.”
More from Hunter:
Protests continued for a second day in Manhattan on Wednesday evening, following an immigration raid on Canal Street the previous afternoon, in which agents from five federal agencies arrested both street vendors and protesters. Protesters took to the streets, blocked traffic and stood outside 26 Federal Plaza, the immigration court and ICE detention center where, for months, masked agents have herded people through the halls as they showed up for hearings.
While protests and civil disobedience surrounding Tuesday’s raid led to arrests and detentions of federal agents and local police, Wednesday night’s marches appeared to pass largely without incident. Organizers addressed the crowd through a megaphone in front of 26 Federal Plaza and pledged to continue their efforts to protest ICE and what they called the “evil building” with other actions in the coming weeks.
-Hunter Walker
In case you missed it
The latest in Trump’s charcuterie war: Indiana MAGA Republicans Threaten Colleagues to Bow to Trump’s Gerrymandering Pressure
Morning memo: We really know little about what Trump is doing in Latin America
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Today’s article from the TPM 25th Anniversary Essay Series: Patron-supported journalism cannot be the future of information
Why Trump expects the Justice Department to write him a quarter-billion-dollar check
Yesterday’s most read story
Trump enters the “Anthony” phase of the full twilight zone
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White House releases list of donors to Trump’s multimillion-dollar ballroom
