Indiana Republican Got ‘Trumped’ for Voting Against Redistricting — but He Would Do It All Again
When he voted against Republican efforts to redraw Indiana’s congressional map last year, Indiana State Senator Jim Buck (R) says he didn’t feel like he was standing up to President Trump, who had pushed for the new map.
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He felt like he was standing up for his constituents.
But when the Trump-backed map failed in the state senate in a 31–19 vote, Trump took it personally. He vowed to oust Buck and the six other GOP state senators who voted against the plan to create two more safe red seats in the Hoosier State.
Last week, he largely made good on that promise. Buck, who was a 17-year veteran of the legislative body, and at least four other state senators were defeated by Trump-backed primary challengers. One other race involving an anti-redistricting Republican remains too close to call.
But the 80-year-old lawmaker tells NR he wouldn’t do anything differently, even after losing his seat. His constituency “overwhelmingly” wanted him to vote “no,” he said — despite the pressure he was facing from President Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Governor Mike Braun, and several members of the state’s congressional delegation.
“You can’t do retroactive thinking,” he said. “But I would have still voted the same way because, looking back, I would have still had the same calls and letters and people meeting me in restaurants telling me to vote ‘no.’”
“I always felt that I’m the public servant, I’m not the boss telling my people what they should do based upon intimidations, threats and so on,” he said, adding that public servants cannot govern based on threats — even death threats. “You have to stay true to what you’ve been elected to do, and that’s represent the people.”
Among those ousted by Trump’s retribution campaign were State Senator Travis Holdman, the third-most-powerful Republican in the chamber who had served in the legislative body for nearly 20 years. He was defeated by real estate agent Blake Fiechter.
State Senator Greg Walker, a 20-year veteran of the chamber who had been eyeing retirement but chose to run for another term after the redistricting fight, lost his reelection bid to State Representative Michelle Davis.
Trump-backed anesthesiologist Brian Schmutzler defeated incumbent State Senator Linda Rogers, while insurance broker Trevor De Vries bested State Senator Dan Dernulc.
“I’m concerned that we’ve lost through this process a great deal of good men and women that had a vast experience in the legislature,” Buck said. “Experience takes time to gain.”
Just one anti-redistricting state senator, Greg Goode, prevailed in the primary, defeating two challengers: Vigo County council member Brenda Wilson, who was backed by Trump, and Alexandra Wilson.
While Indiana’s Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray is not up for reelection until 2028, MAGA-aligned groups are hoping to push Bray out of his leadership role by ousting his state senate allies. Trump allies spent nearly $10 million on their efforts.
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That Trump would launch an intraparty retribution campaign, particularly against Bray — an Indiana Republican who has served in the state senate since 2012, and whose father and grandfather served in the state legislature and Congress, respectively — has shocked some Hoosier Republicans.
“Good luck to those Great Indiana Senate Candidates who are running against people who couldn’t care less about our Country, or about keeping the Majority in Congress,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social before polls closed in Indiana last week. “Let’s see how those RINOS do tonight!
Buck now says he feels “sad for people in the future.”
He pointed to the 1987 nomination of Robert Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court, which was rejected in such a fashion that “to Bork” became a verb, meaning to “obstruct a nominee through systematic defamation or ideological character attacks, transforming confirmation hearings into partisan fights.”
But as Trump carries on his retribution campaign — of which Indiana was just one stop — Buck suggests people will instead say lawmakers have been “Trumped.”
“If you don’t do as he says, there’s going to be retribution and that, candidly, is what our Founders were so fearful of,” he added. “This is the first time in anybody’s memory that a president has come down, along with the governor, and a U.S. senator, trying to demand that a duly elected state official bows to Washington’s demand. It’s just unheard of.”
Still, Buck refuses to take a bitter tone about the unceremonious end to his 31-year career in the state legislature, which also included 14 years in the state house, and leadership roles in both chambers.
“I don’t look at it that way,” he said, when asked by NR how it feels for his lengthy career to come to an end in this way. “I look at it that I’ve been very blessed to serve in the [state] house and in the [state] senate.”
“There are very few people that have the blessing of being able to be a public servant this long, and being able to shape Indiana, where we are today,” he said, adding that he believes the state is now in a “much better position” today than when he was first elected.
Looking forward, Buck hopes lawmakers won’t be intimidated by Washington when redistricting comes up next. He urges them to pay attention to what their constituents want.
“Even if it means your seat, because the highest honor is to serve the public,” he said.
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