Indiana Gov. Mike Braun, a Republican, suggested in an interview that the Trump White House is threatening to withhold federal funding from GOP-led states that resist gerrymandering efforts.
“If we try to drag our feet as a state on it, probably, we’ll have consequences of not working with the Trump administration as tightly as we should,” Braun said, adding that the redistricting efforts feels “forced upon our legislature.”
For months, the Trump administration has sent officials (including J.D. Vance) to work with lawmakers and governors in red states on efforts to illegally redraw district lines, to disenfranchise Democrats and minority voters.
Some state lawmakers in Indiana, where districts were redrawn just three years ago, have reportedly expressed hesitations with further rigging their elections.
In a second interview the next day, Braun expanded on his comments and tiptoed around explicitly saying that Trump would withhold federal funds from detractors.
I think the Trump administration, for what it’s trying to do, if you’re not kind of getting involved as well as you can on the political side, you probably are not going to be the first call when it comes to the benefits of — just like we’re one of five states now, as the Agriculture Department moves its bureaucracy into the interior; we’re one of those five states.
Indiana Gov. Mike Braun
Vice President J.D. Vance met with Indiana Republicans on August 7 to push for the redistricting efforts.
