WASHINGTON — The president of the United States, Donald Trump, managed to win the candidates of his preference in the Republican primary for the Senate in Indiana, in a setback for members of the party who in the past refused to support the president to redraw the state’s electoral districts.
Five of the seven candidates publicly endorsed by Trump prevailed on Tuesday, leaving out the majority of the seven state senators who last year opposed and derailed his plan to redraw Indiana’s congressional districts.
According to analysts, the Indiana vote was a real stress test to measure Trump’s strength among Republican voters a few months before the midterm elections that will form the House of Representatives and the Senate for the last two years of the legislature.
Remove politicians who help the left
“The Indiana primary should give conservatives hope that we can unseat politicians who speak like conservatives but ultimately help the left,” said Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, key to Trump’s policies.
Although the polls say that there is a drop in the president’s popularity, the Indiana result reflects the opposite and shows the strength that Trump still retains in the Republican ranks and opens a window of hope for his party leaders concerned about the Democratic advance.
The victory of Trump’s candidates in Indiana has been one of the best news that the tenant of the White House has received in recent weeks, still entangled in the end of the war in Iran, with negotiations that have not yet materialized and an increase in the price of gasoline that increases the discontent of Americans with their government.
The result in Indiana also has consequences for the redesign of electoral maps since, although this state will not have the new limits for the November elections, it could serve as an incentive for other Republican leaders, especially in the south of the country, to promote changes in their maps.
“Gerrymandering,” or changes to electoral maps with the aim of benefiting a specific party, has become a key strategy of Republicans and Democrats ahead of the midterm elections.
There are several states that are modifying their maps, although it is not clear how many will arrive on time with the new distributions as of November 3.
Last week, the Supreme Court issued a ruling that prevents states from dividing districts based on race or minorities.
