Indiana Republicans resisted Trump’s demand to redraw congressional districts. SD politicians could learn a lesson
Mike Bohacek is not a well-known politician outside of northwest Indiana, where he served on the LaPorte County Commission until he was elected a state senator in 2016. He is a conservative Republican.
Bohacek recently found himself in Donald Trump’s crosshairs. There is considerable fear in Republican circles that next year’s midterm elections will bring the end of their three-seat majority in the U.S. House. In view of Trump’s sagging approval ratings and the normal trend for the opposition party to surge in midterms, this apprehension is realistic.
Trump and his supporters have become obsessed with gerrymandering congressional seats across the country to improve their chances of keeping Mike Johnson as the speaker of the House, where he functions as Trump’s favorite errand boy. Historically, states have not redistricted House seats except right after the census, but we have seen Texas pass a radical gerrymander, sanctioned by the Supreme Court, that is designed for a five-seat Republican gain.
Not to be outdone, California Democrats pushed through a ballot initiative, which passed overwhelmingly in a statewide vote in November, which potentially gives them a five-seat pickup. Quite a few other states are now embroiled in efforts to gerrymander House seats, even more than they were already, hoping for partisan advantage.
These days, Indiana is a solidly Republican state, although it did vote for Barack Obama in 2008. Currently, Indiana has two Democratic U.S. House seats, in metropolitan Indianapolis and in the Gary-Hammond area just across the border from Chicago. The other seven House districts are safely in Republican hands.
That’s not good enough for Trump and his supporters, who have been demanding that new districts be drawn so that Republicans hold all nine seats. Vice President J.D. Vance took time out of his busy schedule to meet with Indiana state senators three times, pressuring them to gerrymander their House seats. Mike Bohacek and his colleagues received multiple calls from the Trump White House, increasing the pressure.
In the end, they did not succumb. The state House passed a bill that divided Indianapolis, their largest city and state capital, into four districts, each of which is dominated by rural Republican counties, and Gov. Mike Braun gave the plan his full support. But the Indiana Senate, which has 40 Republicans and only 10 Democrats, would not budge. They voted down the gerrymander by a vote of 31-19, with 21 of the Republicans, including Bohacek, in opposition.
Bohacek is not very happy with Trump these days anyway. He has a daughter with Down syndrome, and as an advocate for people with disabilities, he resents Trump’s use of the term "retard" to denigrate his political opponents. While Trump threatened to recruit and support an opponent for Bohacek in the next Republican primary election, he was unmoved.
Since the Indiana Senate rejected the proposed gerrymander, Bohacek has received death threats. He and his family have moved out of their home to an undisclosed location until the situation calms down.
Right now, our president is furious with Bohacek and his colleagues. He recently posted on Truth Social that “Republicans in the Indiana State Senate, who voted against a Majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, should be ashamed of themselves.”
Apparently Trump concedes that his party will lose its majority if the midterm elections are conducted fairly, with neutral boundaries. He is urging that Bohacek, and all of his colleagues who would not do as they were told, must be challenged in the primaries.
“I will be there to help!” Trump vowed.
Wouldn't it be refreshing if some of our South Dakota Republican politicians were as principled as Mike Bohacek and his Indiana colleagues?
Jay Davis of Rapid City is a retired lawyer and a regular contributor to The South Dakota Standard.
Photo: public domain, wikimedia commons
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