Can Indiana lawmakers win after defying the president’s vote?

Indiana voters go to the polls today in a test of the Republican party’s staying power after the party’s state lawmakers resisted Donald Trump ’s bruising campaign to pressure them into redrawing the congressional districts. The vote has turned into a statewide referendum on political retribution. Seven state senators who voted against Trump’s mid-decade redistricting push now face challengers endorsed by the president, who said that “every one of these people should be “primaried,” after the effort failed. Trump-aligned dark money groups have spent upwards of $7m on TV ads in Indiana this year, according to a tally from AdImpact – the majority spent targeting Republicans who allied themselves with Democrats in the December redistricting vote. Greg Goode, a first-term Republican representative from Terre Haute, now faces a competitive race in district 38 against city council member Brenda Wilson – who received backing from both Mike Braun, Indiana’s governor, and Trump – as well as a third candidate, Alexandra Wilson, who shares her last name but bears no relation. Goode voted against Trump’s redistricting push after hosting a town hall event in which 71 people spoke out against the revision and none spoke in favor. Jim Buck, a state senator from Kokomo, also faces a Trump challenge, after 18 years in office. “We’ve never had Washington meddle into our elections like they have this time,” Buck told NPR . …