Indiana delivers a courageous contrast to NC Republican fealty | Opinion
It has long been obvious that North Carolina’s Republican-controlled legislature is impervious to shame, but a vote by Republican lawmakers in Indiana this week should deeply embarrass Republican lawmakers here.
Twenty-one of Indiana’s Republican state senators joined 10 Democrats on Thursday to reject President Donald Trump’s push for a mid-decade redistricting. The proposed new map likely would have shifted Indiana’s U.S. House delegation from 7-2 in Republicans’ favor to 9-0 Republican.
The vote was a setback for Trump, who is urging Republican-controlled states to further gerrymander their congressional districts to prevent Democrats from winning control of the U.S. House in 2026. Legislatures in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina have gone along, but enough Indiana Republicans refused.
One of them, state Sen. Spencer Deery, said he voted no to preserve confidence in elections. “The power to draw election maps is a sacred responsibility directly tied to the integrity of our elections and the people’s faith in our constitutional system,” he said.
What a striking contrast that is to the behavior of North Carolina’s Republican lawmakers.
State Senate leader Phil Berger, a Rockingham County Republican, urged his caucus to comply with Trump’s call to redistrict. He said it was necessary to prevent Democrats from obstructing Trump’s agenda.
But Berger also had his own concerns. It was reported that Berger, now facing a tough primary, could earn a Trump endorsement if he pushed the redistricting through. He did so in October, and the endorsement came this week.
House Speaker Destin Hall also caved to Trump’s demand that North Carolina’s districts be further stacked in his favor. The new map passed the House in October along party lines.
Hall falsely cast the new map as a response to California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s call for a referendum to allow a redrawing of California’s districts. But Newsom only acted after Texas redistricted to create five additional districts favoring Republicans.
“Our state won’t stand by while Democrats like Gavin Newsom redraw districts to aid in their effort to obtain a majority in the U.S. House,” Hall said in a statement. “We will not allow them to undermine the will of the voters and President Trump’s agenda.”
So, Hall went ahead and undermined the will of the voters. Polls show that Trump and his agenda are underwater in North Carolina.
The redrawn North Carolina map is expected to produce another Republican U.S. House seat in an evenly divided state where Republicans have already gerrymandered their way to a lopsided 10-4 advantage.
During the Senate’s floor debate on the new districts, Sen. Jay Chaudhuri, a Wake County Democrat, said, “This map represents the highest and most egregious form of unadulterated and unfettered partisan power grabs I’ve witnessed in my nine years serving in the Senate.”
Sen. Terence Everitt, another Wake County Democrat, used even stronger language. “History will remember the day fascism came to North Carolina,” he told the Republican senators. “And y’all couldn’t wait to get on your knees.”
In a remarkable turn, Everitt’s condemnation brought him a rebuke from Senate Rules Chair Bill Rabon, a Southport Republican. In a letter to Everitt, Rabon, said the Democrat’s words violated the Senate’s decorum. Meanwhile, manipulating congressional districts to appease Trump and deprive voters of their voice is, in Rabon’s view, not offensive.
Trump and Vice President JD Vance leaned on Indiana’s Republican senators who opposed drawing a new map, but those senators chose to do what was right and fair. One who stood up to Trump, Republican Sen. Mike Bohacek, said, “We don’t bend a knee to bullying and threats.”
North Carolina’s Republican lawmakers cannot say the same.
Associate opinion editor Ned Barnett can be reached at 919-404-7583, or nbarnett@newsobserver.com
This story was originally published December 13, 2025 at 6:00 AM.