On Tuesday, President Donald Trump secured a victory within his own party, demonstrating once again that those who defy his dictates pay a heavy price. In the Indiana state Senate primary, the president ensured that a majority of his seven candidates (at least five) won. Trump nominated these challengers to exact revenge on the current senators who dared to oppose his proposal to redraw the state’s congressional map. These state elections, which might have gone largely unnoticed, instead became a barometer of support for the president among his voters. And Trump emerged victorious.

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Party’s incumbents had resisted Trump’s bruising campaign to pressure them into redrawing congressional districts

A majority of Indiana Republican legislators whose opponents were backed by Donald Trump lost their primaries on Tuesday, giving the president wins in a deep-red state just months after lawmakers there rejected his redistricting plan.

Of the seven Trump-endorsed challengers to state senate candidates, at least five won.

Democrats within reach of House majority after voters rebel against Republican gerrymandering

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Months into his second term, Donald Trump wagered that he could beat the historic trend of the party in power losing seats in midterm elections if Republican-led states redrew congressional maps to sweep Democrats out of office.

The gamble is looking to be a bust, or at best a draw, for the president, after Democrats fought back with their own redistricting efforts, the latest of which came to fruition in Virginia on Tuesday, when voters approved a plan that could remove all but one of the five Republicans in its current House of Representatives delegation.