Indiana Republican explains why he defied Trump and rejected congressional redistricting

Geoff Bennett:

President Trump's push to redraw congressional maps in Republicans' favor hit a major roadblock in Indiana yesterday. More than 20 Indiana Republican state senators joined Democrats to vote against a plan that would likely have created two new GOP seats in the U.S. House.

Our congressional correspondent, Lisa Desjardins, has more.

Lisa Desjardins:

After the vote in Indiana, President Trump made clear he wants political consequences for the perceived lack of loyalty.

Here's how he responded to "News Hour"'s Liz Landers.

Donald Trump, President of the United States: I wasn't working on it very hard. It would have been nice. I think we would have picked up two seats if we did that. You had one gentleman, the head of the Senate, I guess, Bray, whatever his name is. I heard he was against it.

He will probably lose his next primary, whenever that is. I hope he does. But — because he's done a tremendous disservice. I will certainly support anybody that wants to go against him.

Lisa Desjardins:

One of those Republicans who voted to block the maps is Indiana Senator Mike Bohacek, and he joins me now.

Senator, you voted no, but others of your fellow Republicans, a smaller group, supported the president's move. Here's what one of them said.

State Sen. Chris Garten (R-IN):

When your house is on fire, you don't worry about whether or not you're traditionally holding the hose the right way. You do whatever it takes to put out the fire.

Lisa Desjardins:

That's a political argument. Why did you disagree? Why were you right? Why did you vote no?

State Sen. Mike Bohacek(R-IN):

Sure.

We had 19 members that felt very strongly that we should move forward with this. And we had 21 of my caucus mates that also felt, as did I,that this is more than just a transactional one-time vote. If we're going to do this once, then are we now going to be doing this every two years with every new administration?

And we don't treat policy as this. Then are we now going to be doing this every two years with every new administration? And we don't treat policy as this substantive in a transactional basis. And that's kind of how I felt. It was feeling like we're just doing this at the whim of a president who's concerned that perhaps he might be underwater in the upcoming elections.

And it was just bad policy. I had some personal reasons as well, and I have certainly stipulated those. But from a policy perspective, it's just bad policy.

Lisa Desjardins:

I want to talk about those personal reasons as well. The president and his team put a lot of pressure on you. His rhetoric has had a number of effects.

One thing he posted on Facebook at one point was, he used a slur, "retarded." I know that's something that affected you. You are also being affected by threats right now. Where are you staying? Where is your family? And what's the president's responsibility for bringing down the rhetoric right now?

State Sen. Chris Garten (R-IN):

Well, what's interesting is, he hasn't brought the tone down, which I was kind of surprised about. And it seems like it's just kind of amplifying it. But, hopefully, things will calm down.

My family and my children, my wife and my children are staying at a friend's house. I'm staying elsewhere as well. So we're going to try to get everybody back together for the weekend and as we approach the holiday season.

I have a daughter that's disabled. And I can listen to a lot of the president's comments and some of the names that he calls that I don't appreciate it. I don't like it. But that's just how he is. But just this one slur just — it was just the bridge too far.

And it doesn't seem to matter. Other members of his administration have used it. He's using it to identify a political rival. There's just no place for it. And it's time to be grownups. For God's sakes, we're the — we're leading — in this case, we're leading the state of Indiana. And in his case, he's leading the free world.

There's many other words you can use if you need to voice your displeasure with someone.

Lisa Desjardins:

There is a top conservative group that's still putting some rhetoric out there today

Heritage Action posted on X in the last day that President Trump should make good on his threat to cut Indiana's funding, writing: "Roads will not be paved. Guard bases will close."

Are you worried about that threat for your state?

State Sen. Mike Bohacek:

I don't think he can do it. From the research I have done and others, the roads are formulary. Entitlement programs like SNAP and Medicaid, well, those are federal entitlements. I don't think you can unfund those.

So can he impact grants and maybe some discretionary issues? Certainly, he can. But we have nine members of our congressional delegation, plus two senators. And with the majorities as tight as they are, and the votes as tight as they are in Congress, hopefully, our state delegation will represent the state of Indiana and its interests at the federal level.

And I would count on them to do that.

Lisa Desjardins:

There are just 40 of you Republican senators in Indiana, but you were under a national pressure campaign, including visits from the vice president.

Who exactly said what to you during that pressure campaign?

State Sen. Mike Bohacek:

So it started pretty early on with the vice president and some of his visits. Obviously, the social media campaign was pretty revved up. We did meet with the — some of the president's staff and also the vice president as a caucus, as a group of the 40 Republican senators.

And then, later on, a conference call with the president. I received one call from president's staff and then also calls from our governor and his staff as well. So it was pressure. With as much as going on in the world these days, for him to take out time to spend with us to discuss this, you obviously see the importance of the issue to him.

Lisa Desjardins:

What do you make of this effort overall to try and affect the 2026 election by changing all these maps? You obviously were against it in Indiana.

State Sen. Mike Bohacek:

I don't feel comfortable with it. I think it's bad policy.

So to now say, well, let's take this opportunity to politically gerrymander them just — it doesn't feel right. And my constituents don't like it. To them, it feels like we're trying to rig the system and steal and using other states' bad behavior as the excuse. That's just not how folks in Indiana are.

Lisa Desjardins:

You have heard that from voters specifically?

State Sen. Mike Bohacek:

I have. Yes, I have heard — obviously, you have voters that are pretty strong on the other side of this issue. And I'm happy they are. And they made their voices clear and known.

But, by and large, members of my constituency overwhelmingly did not want to do this. They did not want the districts to be redrawn. And it became even stronger after they saw the maps. So when they saw the maps and they saw that, in some cases, they're going to be represented by somebody that's in a community that's not even close to being of their same interests, even they were concerned.

Even people that were in favor of it on its face, when they saw the maps, changed their minds.

Lisa Desjardins:

Indiana State Senator Mike Bohacek, thank you so much for talking with us.

State Sen. Mike Bohacek:

Thank you.