Indiana's primary will test President Donald Trump's enduring power over the Republican Party as he tries to dislodge state senators who refused to go along with his call to redraw the state's congressional map.
Twenty-one Republican senators voted against redistricting in December, including eight running for reelection this year. Trump has endorsed primary challengers against seven, and the president's allies have spent millions of dollars on races that rarely get much attention from Washington.
It's become a costly and unprecedented intraparty battle that has exacerbated tensions among Republicans ahead of the November midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.
Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith said the primary is about how far the party will go to get an edge over Democrats — a contest between “the Republicans who tend to want to avoid the fight and the Republicans who feel like we need to fight."
“So the only question is, ‘Will you fight or will you get trampled by the other side?’” said Beckwith, who is supporting the Trump-backed challengers.
Trump began leaning on Republican-led states last year to redraw their congressional maps to make it easier for his party to hold its thin majority in the U.S. House. Although redistricting is normally done once a decade, after a new census, Trump wanted to abandon tradition to gain a political edge.
Texas was the first to follow through, and the White House pressured Indiana to go along too. Vice President JD Vance met with state politicians in Washington and Indianapolis, and Trump weighed in by conference call.
However, Indiana senators rebuffed the effort, one of the president's first significant political defeats of his second term.
The redistricting fight divided Republicans in Indiana, a state Trump won three times by no less than 16 points. Republican Gov. Mike Braun, U.S. Sen. Jim Banks and organizations such as Turning Point Action have worked alongside Trump to unseat the incumbents.
Jim Bopp, a prominent Indiana attorney who leads a political action committee aligned with Braun, predicted that Trump’s support will carry the day for the challengers.
“Republican voters overwhelmingly support Trump, and when they find out Trump has endorsed a particular Senate candidate, they swing their support behind them,” he said.
Opposition to the effort came from anti-Trump Republicans and those wary of the president reaching so deeply into state decision-making. Former Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, who had stepped away from politics after leaving the governorship in 2015, reemerged to help raise money for targeted incumbents.
The senators who broke with Trump said they were listening to constituents who were overwhelmingly against his redistricting plan. Some said they didn’t like Trump's aggressive tone in pushing the plan.
“We hate to be told what to do,” said Mike Murphy, a former Republican state representative. “We’re very independent-thinking people. So when Donald Trump and his goons come in and try to tell us that we need to redistrict to help his political future, that’s the worst thing you can do.”
He said Trump and those spending big money to take out the incumbents don’t understand Indiana politics.
“There’s just so many misjudgments on people’s part because they tend to fly at the 50,000-foot level, and they don’t go to the barbecues and the church fish fries and the things that make Indiana politics,” Murphy said.
Bopp, who supports the Trump-backed challengers, said the primary is a chance for Indiana Republicans to express how important it is to redraw the congressional lines there.
“It’s not a matter of Trump’s power,” Bopp said. “It’s about Republican primary voters who support his agenda and don’t want a Democratic House that will be hugely destructive to the Trump presidency and the country.”
FILE - Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith announces the results of a vote to redistrict the state's congressional map, Dec. 11, 2025, at the Statehouse in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)
FILE - A general exterior view of the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis, April 23, 2025. (AP Photo/AJ Mast, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Jalen Brunson scored 27 of his 35 points in the first half and the New York Knicks emphatically added to a historic postseason roll by overwhelming the Philadelphia 76ers 137-98 on Monday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The Knicks became the first team in NBA history to win three straight postseason games by at least 25 points, continuing a wave that began midway through the first round against Atlanta by shooting 63% from the field and leading by 40 points.
“We’re playing well, but it doesn’t mean anything if we can’t find a way to get three more wins,” Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns said. “So, we've just got to stick to the task at hand.”
OG Anunoby added 18 points on 7-for-8 shooting, while Towns and Mikal Bridges both had 17, with Towns adding six rebounds and six assists in just 20 minutes.
After trailing 2-1 against Atlanta, the Knicks have won four straight games by a total of 135 points. They are the first team since detailed play-by-play began in 1996-97 to lead three straight playoff games by at least 30 points, according to Sportradar.
Brunson said the Knicks' focus and attention to detail have been better since they fell behind.
“Yes, it’s turned into obviously big wins, but those attention to detail things are going to help us in the close ones as well,” Brunson said.
Game 2 is Wednesday night before the series shifts to Philadelphia — with Joel Embiid already pleading with 76ers fans not to sell their tickets to Knicks fans when it does.
But the 76ers didn't exactly give their fans much reason to want to keep them Monday.
Paul George scored 17 points for Philadelphia. Embiid shot just 3 for 11 for his 14 points and Tyrese Maxey had just 13, not making his first basket until five minutes into the second quarter.
The 76ers had just one full day off after winning in Boston on Saturday night to complete the NBA's 14th comeback from a 3-1 deficit. But they looked more like the team that lost twice by 32 points in the first four games to fall into that deficit.
The Knicks had a much easier first round — and finished it with one of the easiest games in NBA playoff history. They crushed Atlanta 140-89 on Thursday in Game 6, setting a postseason record by building a 47-point halftime lead.
There were long stretches Monday that looked similar.
“They were obviously picking us apart, moving a lot better than we were,” 76ers coach Nick Nurse said.
The Knicks scored eight straight points midway through the second quarter to extend a 10-point lead to 57-39, and Brunson scored their final 11 points, capped by a 3-pointer with 0.3 seconds remaining, to make it 74-51 at halftime.
Towns' 3-pointer made it 90-60 about five minutes into the second half and it was mostly reserves from there. Brunson played only 31 minutes, perhaps the only reason he didn't reach 40 points for a fourth straight playoff game against the 76ers.
He averaged 35.5 points in a first-round series against the 76ers in 2024 and closed it with three straight 40-point games, including a franchise playoff-record 47 in Game 4.
The 76ers still haven't figured out a way to stop him.
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New York Knicks' Og Anunoby, right, drives past Philadelphia 76ers' Justin Edwards during the first half of Game 1 in a second-round NBA basketball playoffs series Monday, May 4, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
New York Knicks' Karl-Anthony Towns, right, fouls Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid during the first half of Game 1 in a second-round NBA basketball playoffs series Monday, May 4, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
New York Knicks' Mikal Bridges dunks the ball during the first half of Game 1 in a second-round NBA basketball playoffs series against the Philadelphia 76ers Monday, May 4, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
New York Knicks' Karl-Anthony Towns, right, dunk during the first half of Game 1 in a second-round NBA basketball playoffs series against the Philadelphia 76ers Monday, May 4, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Philadelphia 76ers' Vj Edgecombe, right, fouls New York Knicks' Jalen Brunson during the first half of Game 1 in a second-round NBA basketball playoffs series Monday, May 4, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
