Trump pummels Indiana GOP rebels in 'gut-punching race': primary night takeaways

President Donald Trump annihilated most of the Indiana Republican legislators who stood against his plan to redraw congressional maps to keep hold of the U.S. House of Representatives ahead of the 2026 midterms in the state's May 5 primaries.

Out of the seven GOP incumbents on the ballot who opposed the Hoosier State creating new boundaries for its federal delegation in Washington, only state Sen. Greg Goode prevailed with most other incumbents losing in landslides.

The president's allies spent millions in those usually sleepy state legislative races, underscoring how far the White House is willing to go as GOP-controlled states across the country move rapidly to create new boundaries.

Trump taunted the incumbents ahead of the results in a post on Truth Social, referring to them as "RINOs" or Republicans in name only. That will likely serve as a warning to other GOP legislators thinking about crossing the administration amid a gerrymandering arms race that was supercharged last week by the U.S. Supreme Court striking down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act.

Over in Ohio voters also added their stitch to the midterm primary quilt with critical Senate and gubernatorial races looming in November.

The Buckeye State, much like Indiana, is also playing a role in the gerrymandering arms race where voters will test a redrawn congressional district that was made more favorable for Republicans.

Here are the critical takeaways from this week's election.

Trump's revenge: Most Indiana legislators fall after opposing president

Trump and his forces cleaned the opposition's clock in five of the seven Indiana state Senate races, where some of the incumbents lost by more than 20 percentage points with at least one of those races remain undecided late Tuesday evening.

These victories reaffirmed the president's dominance and reach among Republicans despite public clashes within the Make America Great Again movement over Iran and the economy.

Groups supporting the president's redistricting gambit, such as Hoosier Leadership for America and American Leadership PAC, doled out about $6 million against the targeted incumbents, according to AdImpact. Other national groups, like Win It Back PAC, a Club for Growth-affiliated organization, have joined the fray as well with direct mailers and field operations.

That was too much for most of the legislators, such as state Sen. Travis Holdman, who represented a district just south of Fort Wayne, to overcome. He was throttled by Trump-backed candidate Blake Fiechter by roughly 22 percentage points.

"This was a tough, gut-punching race," Fiechter told the Indianapolis Star, part of the USA TODAY Network. 

Among those who fell to the president's wrath was longtime state Sen. Jim Buck, who had the support of former Vice President Mike Pence, who also hails from Indiana. Buck lost to challenger Tracey Powell by about 30 percentage points.

Massie and others GOP rebels beware

Trump is well-known for holding a grudge and expecting loyalty, which has been a theme in several Republican primaries this year.

Standing by the president has paid off well for GOP candidates and leaders, such as Indiana Gov. Mike Braun, who put resources behind by some of those challengers against Hoosier State lawmakers even after some faced death threats after defying the administration's plan.

"Ultimately, decisions like this carry political consequences," Braun said in a Dec. 11 post on X. "I will be working with the President to challenge these people who do not represent the best interests of Hoosiers."

In the Georgia special election earlier this year to replace former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who had a major falling out with Trump last year, every GOP contender ran towards the president and away from Greene.

That puts even more attention on the May 19 primary, where Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., is facing a Trump-backed challenger Ed Gallerin, a farmer and retired Navy SEAL, in a closely watched primary.

“He’s the worst person," Trump said of Massie at a Kentucky rally in March. "Massie is a complete and total disaster as a congressman and frankly as a human being."

Massie is one of a few House Republicans who voted to oppose the war on Iran. He's also been one of the conservative figures behind legislation that forced the Justice Department to release documents surrounding the Epstein files and voted against the administration's tax-cut legislation last year.

The congressman has been leading in most public polls, but has remained aggressive against Gallerin, who has declined to appear at multiple debates against Massie.

Can red wall hold: GOP testing redistricting tactic

One test of Trump and his allies building a red wall to guard against Democrat's projected blue wave will be in Ohio's 9th Congressional District where Republicans will see if redrawing congressional lines will pay off.

Whichever of the GOP contenders jockeying for the nomination prevails, they will be facing Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur, the longest-serving woman in Congress, who won her last reelection by less than one percentage point in 2024.

The Ohio legislature redrew Kaptur's district, which stretches along the state's northern border with Michigan, to be more GOP-leaning. Currently it is rated as a tossup by Cook Political Report, making it one of the few Democratic-held House seats that could be a Republican pickup when every seat could matter.

Brown v. Husted: Critical Senate race starts ugly

Ohio will be crucial for Republicans and Democrats in terms of controlling the U.S. Senate, which is more competitive than originally thought ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Democrats need to flip at least four seats to gain the upper hand in Washington, including the Buckeye State where Trump won by 12 percentage points in 2024.

Former Sen. Sherrod Brown is waging a comeback after losing two years ago and he easily won the Democratic nomination. That sets up what will be an expensive and nasty general election against Republican incumbent Sen. Jon Husted, who is still relatively unknown after being appointed to fill a seat vacated by Vice President JD Vance.

Brown's first ad is a scorcher. It seeks to link Husted to Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier, claiming he received more money from the convicted sex offender's associates than other lawmakers.

In return, the GOP has called attention to the former senator's record on immigration, saying Brown voted almost a dozen times to "protect federal funding for sanctuary cities" and against deporting undocumented immigrants with criminal records.

The ugliness will be fueled by a deluge of campaign cash from both sides. Republican groups have already earmarked at least $79 million toward the race while Democratic organizations, such as Senate Majority PAC, have committed at least $40 million, according to reports.

Forecasts rate Ohio's Senate race as a toss-up and most surveys have it a dead heat.

A COVID-19 retrial for Ohio governor?

Much like its Senate race, the framework for the Ohio gubernatorial general election was largely a forgone conclusion with Republican Vivek Ramaswamy prevailing with ease to face Democrat Amy Acton, who had no challengers.

Ohio isn't the swing state it used to be, but Democrats are hopeful given Trump's approval rating underwater in the state. But what could define this race early is how voters respond to Acton's role as the Ohio health director during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 60-year-old physician's job performance as the COVID czar received bipartisan praise at the time. Fans even turned her into a bobblehead.

But those days might also inspire plenty of derision from critics, especially on the conservative side, still furious over school closures and other lockdowns that shuttered businesses.

"What disappoints me is somebody who could not draw a distinction between older Ohioans who might have been at risk from COVID 19 versus younger (elementary) grade students who were not at risk of death, but were shut out and are at risk of depression, anxiety and learning loss," Ramaswamy said May 5 during his victory speech, demonstrating his eagerness to rehash the right's pandemic-era criticism of public health professionals.

Contributing: Terry Collins, James Powell, Cate Charron