Trump Sends Warning to RINOS via the Indiana State Senate

Last night, President Donald Trump sent a warning to RINOs across the country: If you are against the party, you are out.

Trump went to war with the Indiana Senate after it refused to pass an all‑red map last December. Six of the seven candidates Trump endorsed against incumbent state senators won by a landslide.

“Indiana is Trump country, and it showed again last night,” Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., who won his primary for reelection to the U.S. House, told The Daily Signal Wednesday morning.

“We tried to tell these state senators that were opposing redistricting that this was not a fight they should be fighting,” Stutzman continued. “It’s not a biblical issue, it’s not a moral issue, it’s a partisan issue, and they paid the price last night, and it wouldn’t have needed to happen.”

Newly elected Trump‑endorsed candidates who defeated their anti‑redistricting opponents include James “Jay” Starkey, Dr. Brian Schmutzler, Michelle Davis, Tracey Powell, Trevor De Vries, and Blake Fiechter. Paula Copenhaver, another Trump‑endorsed candidate, is still waiting to see if she defeated her anti‑redistricting opponent. Incumbent Greg Goode was the only candidate to beat his Trump‑endorsed opponent.

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This election received millions in campaign funding, something a state Senate race rarely, if ever, has seen. Sen. Jim Banks, R‑Ind.; Turning Point Action; Scott Presler; and even Trump’s political arm, MAGA Inc., and its director, James Blair, were involved in the get‑out‑the‑vote effort in the state.

Banks went as far as to pour in $3 million from his 501(c)(4) organization, Hoosier Leadership for America, to support Trump‑endorsed primary challengers.

While another redistricting push in Indiana is unlikely for 2026, Stutzman told The Daily Signal that with the results of this primary, “it’ll definitely happen for 2028.”

“President Trump showed us how to fight back, and that’s what needs to happen,” Stutzman said.

“We need to be utilizing every opportunity that we have to be sure that Republicans are at least competing. We’re too nice sometimes to the Democrats, and they just take advantage of us every time,” he continued. “Every Republican state that has this opportunity, we need to do it so we have a balanced opportunity in the fall elections.”

Redistricting has been a fight for both parties for years; neither can agree on when it started or which side is responsible. The one thing they can now agree on is that they are going to pounce on the opportunity.

Virginia is currently facing a massive redistricting battle, currently being won by Democrats yet challenged in the state’s highest court. Because of Indiana and the Supreme Court ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, more states are planning to maximize their redistricting efforts. Louisiana, South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida, Texas, and Alabama are all considering or moving forward with new maps.

Stutzman told The Daily Signal he was getting “lots of messages” from members in states like South Carolina and Florida saying the MAGA win in Indiana “was definitely making news across the country.”

“It takes a lot of effort, but it just shows you again—when President Trump is endorsing candidates, the voters are paying attention to that,” Stutzman concluded. “And that was loud and clear last night in Indiana. So, I think other state legislatures and governors should all sit up and take notice.”