AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Well, the results are in on President Trump's effort to punish Indiana state lawmakers for not going along with his redistricting push for the midterms. You see, back in December, the Indiana legislature killed a plan to redraw the state's congressional districts, and a lot of Republicans voted against that proposed map, even as Trump and the governor threatened to push them out of office. Well, President Trump supported primary challenges against the Republicans who defied him and did indeed take down most of those Republicans last night. To talk about all this, we're joined now by Caroline Beck of WFYI public radio in Indianapolis. Hi, Caroline.
CAROLINE BECK, BYLINE: Hello.
CHANG: OK, so say more about those results where Trump had set out to defeat some of these incumbent Republicans.
BECK: Yeah, so there were seven incumbent Republicans up for election in the primaries last night, and nearly all of those candidates who Trump opposed lost. Only one incumbent appears to have survived so far, and another candidate is just ahead by a few votes, and it's still too close to call yet. State Senator Jim Buck was one of those incumbents who lost last night. He's been serving in the General Assembly since the mid-'90s in the Senate and the House. He said he sees this as the federal government overreaching into powers states are supposed to have, like states' rights. Here's what he had to say.
JIM BUCK: This is the nightmare of our Founding Fathers. The founders put guardrails around themselves. That's why they're called the laboratories of democracy. We compete against each other. We never intended to compete against Washington.
BECK: But, you know, analysts will point out that it's mostly highly partisan, more ideological voters who turn out in party primaries. And in the Republican Party, those are often core Trump supporters who follow his endorsements.
CHANG: Yeah. OK, wait, so what did President Trump do specifically in these primaries to push back on some of these Republican incumbents?
BECK: Yeah. So Trump and his allies spent millions of dollars in order to unseat these senators. Outside groups like Turning Point USA have also visited Indiana several times, doing door knocking and holding events across the state. And I'll also point out that we saw a lot of ads on TV and online that were usually, you know, talking about other topics than just redistricting. Like, they picked other issues, like one ad accused incumbents of letting China buy farmland in the state. And Trump also had the help of our Republican governor, Mike Braun, and Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith, who also have endorsed the primary challengers.
CHANG: Let me ask you, Caroline, because this isn't just being watched in Indiana, right? Republicans in other states are paying attention because some of them are still considering redistricting in their states. What kind of message do you think these results in Indiana send to Republicans elsewhere?
BECK: Yeah. Yeah, so this is a clear sign to lawmakers in other states of Trump's power in the Republican Party, especially in the Republicans who come out to vote in primaries. And here's what political scientist at Indiana University Indianapolis Aaron Dusso had to say about how the results could be viewed by other Republicans around the country.
AARON DUSSO: It's easily understood as Trump still has the power, and you need to - you know, you being any Republican out there - you still need to take serious consideration of anything Donald Trump says that he would like to see happen. And to defy Trump is still a very big danger for you as far as your political career goes.
BECK: Yeah. And, you know, right now, Trump is urging Republicans in the South to redistrict quickly before the midterms. They could be less likely now to try to defy him, even if they were considering to do that anyway, or maybe even go a more aggressive redistricting route, like, for more seats. And Republicans in Indiana could even come back next year and do the redistricting they didn't do in December.
CHANG: That is Caroline Beck from WFYI. Thank you very much, Caroline.
BECK: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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