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Welcome to The Logoff: President Donald Trump’s Indiana redistricting marketing campaign has failed — once more.
What occurred? On Thursday, the Indiana state Senate voted down a Trump-backed invoice to redraw Indiana’s congressional maps to be extra favorable to Republicans forward of the 2026 midterms. The invoice, which might have created a 9-0 Republican benefit in Indiana, was rejected resoundingly, with 31 votes to 19.
The vote virtually by no means befell, after Indiana Republicans initially rejected Trump’s name to convene a particular session. In the end, Trump was capable of browbeat Republicans into holding the vote — solely to be handed an much more hanging defeat.
What’s the context? Indiana is the most recent focus of a nationwide, bipartisan redistricting effort that kicked off when Trump pressured Texas lawmakers to redraw their state maps and web Republicans 5 further congressional seats. Since then, issues have largely not been going his manner. A Democratic redistricting effort in California ought to neutralize GOP features in Texas, and with Indiana staying out of the battle, Democrats could finally break even — and even achieve seats.
Why does this matter? Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and administration allies threw numerous weight behind this redistricting push, together with issuing more and more drastic threats. On Thursday, for instance, the conservative group Heritage Motion floated stripping Indiana of federal funding if lawmakers voted in opposition to Trump. Regardless of all of that, Trump nonetheless did not win — and even come shut — the 25 Republican votes he wanted regardless of the GOP holding a 40-vote supermajority within the 50-seat state Senate.
Indiana Republicans have additionally been deluged with dying threats over the invoice. It’s an enormous deal that they failed to provide the supposed end result.
What’s the massive image? The dialog about whether or not Trump’s beforehand ironclad management over the Republican Get together is slipping has been getting louder in latest weeks. In November, Home members bucked the White Home to vote to launch the Epstein recordsdata. Now, Indiana has handed Trump one other defeat, and a blow, to Republicans’ already-slim probabilities of retaining the Home subsequent yr.
And with that, it’s time to log out…
What number of golden retrievers can you slot in a park? A minimum of 2,397, it seems, after Argentines in Buenos Aires set a brand new unofficial world report this week for the most important golden retriever get-together. You possibly can watch some cute video of the occasion right here. Personally, I’m excited to see my mother and father’ golden, Gus, over the vacations. Thanks for studying, have an incredible night, and we’ll see you again right here tomorrow!
