Washington, D.C. — According to reports, Vice President J.D. Vance is planning another taxpayer-funded trip to Indiana to pressure state lawmakers to further gerrymander the state’s congressional map. Last week, GOP operatives admitted to POLITICO that Trump and Vance have been bribing and extorting lawmakers, coercing them to gerrymander their states’ congressional maps.

A report from POLITICO revealed that the visit comes as multiple Indiana Republicans buck the push to redistrict, one source notably saying that Indiana GOP Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray has been “maybe even subtly or not so subtly pouring cold water on the idea so that he can say he doesn’t have the votes.” 

National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC) President John Bisognano issued the following statement in response to Vance’s planned visit:  

“JD Vance’s latest taxpayer-funded gerrymandering trip shows just how desperate Republicans’ position is getting. Vance clearly didn’t get the job done on his last trip to the Hoosier State, so now he’s back to bribe, extort, and god only knows what else to get Indiana lawmakers to draw a mid-decade gerrymander, despite broad bipartisan opposition. If Republicans want the votes of Americans, instead of resorting to cheating, they should stop passing bills that rip health care away from millions of Americans and give tax breaks to millionaires, and instead, focus on bringing the government back from a shutdown.”

This visit, coming about two months after the last, is just the latest of many desperate actions from Washington to pressure Indiana Republicans into helping to steal the 2026 midterm election. In August, during Vance’s first taxpayer-funded trip to Indiana to pressure Republicans to cave to demands from Washington, D.C., he was ridiculed for hiding behind a black curtain and avoiding protesters who filled the Indiana Capitol. Later that same month, Indiana Republicans were summoned to the White House to be scolded into gerrymandering after several GOP state lawmakers had come out against the effort. Following this push, in September, Governor Braun admitted that Donald Trump was going as far as to threaten federal funding if Indiana lawmakers did not fall in line. 

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