PRIMARIES MATTER: Indiana Republican Voters Clobber RINO Lawmakers

Back in December, Indiana Senate Republicans killed a GOP redistricting map, blocking the path to a ’26 GOP House Majority showing, yet again, why primaries matter.

And yesterday, Indiana GOP voters showed they learned that lesson. Let’s hope the rest of the spineless, gutless RINOs get the message as well. Most of the Republican Indiana state Senate candidates endorsed by President Donald Trump won primary races Tuesday against incumbents who voted with Democrats to stop a congressional redistricting bill. As of late Tuesday evening, The New York Times election results showed challengers picked up at least five of the seven state Senate seats targeted by Trump and allied conservatives groups.

Five of the Indiana state senators who refused to redistrict a state Trump won by 20 points because they didn’t want to violate norms — only to see Virginia enact a 10-1 Dem map in a state Kamala won by five — have lost their primaries to Trump supported challengers.

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) May 6, 2026

Trump won Indiana by 20 points.
Republicans control 70% of the Indiana House and 80% of the Indiana Senate.
When GOP voters demanded fair maps, Indiana Republicans betrayed them — then laughed in Trump's face.

Tonight, they all got FIRED.

LESSON to GOP: Play to win or go home pic.twitter.com/BY18xnu6vA

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) May 6, 2026

Indiana Primaries Should Be A Wakeup Call For Senate RINOs: Pass The SAVE Act

By: M.D. Kittle, The Federalist, May 06, 2026

Indiana conservatives just sent a message to RINOs everywhere: FAFO. These voters are mad as hell and they’re not going to vote for spineless Republicans anymore.

Hopefully GOP senators performing in the failure theater production of “debating” the SAVE America Act heard Indiana’s message loud and clear.

Most of the Republican Indiana state Senate candidates endorsed by President Donald Trump won primary races Tuesday against incumbents who voted with Democrats to stop a congressional redistricting bill. As of late Tuesday evening, The New York Times election results showed challengers picked up at least five of the seven state Senate seats targeted by Trump and allied conservatives groups. Republican primary voters rejected politicians standing on “fairness” principles while Democrats employ every weapon in their political arsenal to wrest back control of the U.S. House.

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Indiana Sen. Jim Banks helped drive the campaign to oust the incumbents who helped kill a mid-decade redrawing of the red state’s congressional maps. The redistricting plan, urged by Trump, would have given Republicans two additional seats in a House of Representatives with a razor-thin GOP majority.

“Everyone in Indiana politics should have learned an important lesson today: President Trump is the single most popular Republican among Hoosier voters,” Banks said in a statement. “Indiana is a conservative state, and we deserve conservatives in our State Senate who have a pulse on Republican voters.”

Trump and his political action committee allies are ready to spend to jettison Republicans who don’t see the next two election cycles as existential battles. And they have a lot of money to take on RINOs and leftists heading into the midterms.

The Indiana Senate Republican primaries generated $13.5 million in ad spending, a 4,736 percent increase from the last cycle, according to ad tracker AdImpact. The brunt of the spending poured in from Trump-allied groups targeting the incumbents.

It seems some members of Republican-controlled U.S. Senate have failed to learn that “important lesson,” particularly when it comes to one of Trump’s top priorities — an 80-20 issue among voters.

‘I’m Disappointed’

The Senate is out this week. Again. Majority leadership could be fighting for the SAVE America Act, holding the floor open for debate until enough obstructionist Democrats break. They’re not. Even when they’re in session they haven’t shown much urgency for the popular election integrity package that requires documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to vote in federal elections, and photo ID at the polls.

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has said he supports the bill but, by golly, there’s just no way to get around that 60-vote filibuster. There is, but it seems the same senators who like to talk about election integrity don’t want to work all that hard to get it. See: Talking Filibuster.