Trump delivers brutal retribution in Indiana as defiant incumbents are toppled in 'wipeout'

By VICTORIA CHURCHILL, US POLITICAL REPORTER Published: 02:20, 6 May 2026 | Updated: 02:23, 6 May 2026 President Donald Trump's retribution tour is off to a stinging start. At least five Republican state senators went down to defeat in primaries on Tuesday night after refusing to fall in line with a Trump-backed redistricting effort designed to redraw the state's congressional lines.  The defeat of a bloc of state legislators who joined Democrats to torpedo the President’s map amounts to a harrowing warning for MAGA defectors inside one of the most conservative states in America.  Real estate agent Blake Fiechter ousted long‑serving Senator Travis Holdman, the chamber’s Majority Caucus Chair and third‑ranking Republican.  Elsewhere, Trump‑backed Michelle Davis and insurance broker Trevor De Vries ousted Senators Greg Walker and Dan Dernulc, respectively. Trump picks Brian Schmutzler and Tracey Powell bested incumbent Senators Linda Rogers and Travis Holdman. Trump's political operation went after seven Indiana Republican senators in total.  'It's a wipeout so far in Indiana,' noted Zachary Donnini, the head of data science at VoteHub. 'Trump-backed Republicans are steamrolling the anti-redistricting faction.'  The showdown was months in the making, becoming a proxy war over redistricting that turned Indiana's Senate body into a national flashpoint. Indiana State Senator Greg Goode, a Republican representing the 38th district, held off a Trump-backed challenger, Brenda Wilson to keep his seat. Rodric Bray, Indiana's Senate president pro tempore, would have been an unthinkable target for any President in a previous era.  US President Donald Trump makes a fist after a roundtable discussion on his "no tax on tips" policy at the AC Hotel Las Vegas Symphony Park in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 16, 2026 A general exterior view of the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis, April 23, 2025 An X post by AdImpact which breaks down spending on the Indiana State Senate races His family representing Indiana in a near-unbroken stretch dating back to 1951, Bray is a quiet small-town lawyer and former Sunday school teacher who is well respected among Indiana politicians.  But because he balked at supporting Trump's redistricting push, he got in Trump's crosshairs.  In January, Trump lambasted him as a 'total RINO' and vowed to 'work tirelessly' to remove him.  But since Bray isn't up for reelection until 2028, the White House strategy became to pick off Bray's Senate allies and wrest his leadership position away from him.   Millions of dollars flooded races in which tens of thousands are usually devoted. Bray put his head down and refused to fight Trump rhetorically.  Indiana State Senator Michael Bohacek, another Republican from the Hoosier State who is not running this year and thus was not on the ballot, also pledged to vote against a draft congressional map that would have seen two Democratic seats eliminated because of the president's inflammatory rhetoric. The proposed map came as part of a redistricting effort aimed at keeping a GOP majority in Washington, DC, after the 2026 midterm elections. As midterm elections typically result in the president's political party losing seats, Trump has pressured Republican-led states to assist him in keeping power after next November's elections, and not spend his last two years in office as a lame duck, or worse, going through another impeachment trial. Bohacek issued a statement bashing the president not for political reasons, but for one that was more personal. The Indiana state senator rebuked Trump's rhetoric after the president called Minnesota Governor Tim Walz—Kamala Harris' 2024 running mate—a slur for people with intellectual disabilities while criticizing his handling of immigration from Somalia and other countries. Walz is also a father to his son Gus who has a non-verbal learning disorder, as well as anxiety, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). 'This is not the first time our president has used these insulting and derogatory references and his choices of words have consequences. I will be voting NO on redistricting, perhaps he can use the next 10 months to convince voters that his policies and behavior deserve a congressional majority,' Bohacek wrote in a Facebook post in which he also explained that he is a father to a daughter with Down syndrome. While running for president in 2016, Trump was famously accused of mocking a disabled New York Times journalist. Trump's retribution run is only getting started. Later this month, he and his political operation hope to defeat Senator Bill Cassidy in Louisiana and Rep. Thomas Massie in Kentucky.   Cassidy was one of seven GOP senators who voted to convict Trump in his 2021 impeachment trial following the Jan. 6 riot. Massie, a longtime irritant of Trump, has consistently torn into his administration over its reluctance to release the Jeffrey Epstein files.  No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? 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