JD Vance, Trump meet with Indiana Republicans amid redistricting effort

President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance met with a delegation of Republican state lawmakers from Indiana at the White House amid the effort to redistribute the election districts in the state.

The meeting comes amid a war of gerrymandering, with officials in Texas and California redistricting their congressional districts to benefit their parties ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The meeting took place at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

In addition to that meeting, President Trump held a private meeting in the Oval Office with Indiana House Majority Leader Todd Huston and state Senate President Rodric Bray.

According to Politico, Republican state lawmakers appeared more inclined to accept redistricting after hearing arguments from Vance, who urged them to come up with a plan to redraw the electoral map to add GOP seats in the federal Congress.

“It feels like the tide is starting to turn as Indiana Republican legislators are starting to understand they can deliver a huge win that Trump and his team will not forget,” one state Republican who was at the meeting told Politico.

There were even state representatives, such as lawmaker Jim Lucas, who declared publicly that they are now "less against" redistricting than they were before the meeting, suggesting the positive impact of Vance and Trump's words among Indiana Republicans.

According to Politico, Vice President Vance asserted that lawmakers have an opportunity to “fight and support Republicans and be real Republicans."

“You could see the room coming around to the idea hearing from the vice president,” a quoted official sentenced. “Some real movement from it.”

Even lawmakers who previously publicly expressed their rejection of the idea asked questions and eventually pledged to reconsider their position, signaling a breakthrough for the White House agenda.

Some Indiana Republicans, however, are concerned that the plan will directly affect the GOP, becoming something of an electoral boomerang against the party.

Indiana Republicans control 70 of 100 seats in the state House and 40 of 50 in the Senate, so a sizable number of GOP lawmakers would have to oppose it to block the reapportionment plan, risking political retaliation from the White House.

The electoral redistricting war heading into the midterms, which now has Texas and California at the media epicenter, has inspired other states such as Florida, Ohio, New York and Missouri to evaluate potential redistricting.