Indiana's redistricting fight is set to spill into a crowded primary season, as Republicans who opposed President Donald Trump's position on the issue will face backlash from GOP voters in May, Sen. Jim Banks said Sunday.
"I stood with the president to support redistricting," the Indiana Republican said in a televised interview, adding that while intraparty contests are healthy, Trump's influence will still shape the outcome of Indiana's May primary elections.
"Donald Trump remains the most popular Republican in the state of Indiana," Banks said. "I've seen all the polling, recent polling. You don't want to be on the other side of Donald Trump."
Banks credited Trump's backing for his own political rise.
"He endorsed me when I ran for the Senate," said Banks. "He cleared the field and I'm a senator today largely because of that endorsement."
He added that, in his view, the stakes go beyond internal party politics.
"It's not about Donald Trump. It's about the country," Banks said, tying the redistricting debate to maintaining the House GOP majority.
"It's about keeping the Republican majority in the House of Representatives and addressing issues like health and saving this country from those who want to tear it down," he said.
Banks also pointed to specific Republican lawmakers he said broke with Trump in Indiana, predicting they will have to defend those votes to constituents.
After discussing Indiana politics, Banks pivoted to national security and said the U.S. is once again confronting a growing ISIS threat, blaming former President Joe Biden's foreign policy developments, including this weekend's deadly ambush in Syria that killed two U.S. soldiers and an interpreter.
"We saw the rise of ISIS around the world under the Biden years," Banks said. "I served in Afghanistan, and we saw ISIS-K rise in Afghanistan after the disastrous withdrawal by the Biden administration."
Now "we're seeing it, again, rear its head in Syria and other places," he added, promising that "there will be hell to pay for those who are responsible" for the weekend attack in Syria.
He said Trump defeated ISIS' territorial hold during his first term without expanding U.S. involvement into a long-term conflict.
"Donald Trump rooted out and took out the ISIS caliphate in his first term without starting another forever war," Banks said.
"He's going to do that again, and I'm going to be there to back him up on the Armed Services Committee," he continued.
Banks also pointed to pending defense legislation, which he said will help restore military readiness and "go a long way to modernize and rebuild the military after it took a step backward under the Biden [administration]."
The senator also praised recent strikes tied to drug-trafficking interdiction, framing them as part of Trump's mandate to combat fentanyl and overdose deaths.
"The fact of the matter is that the president is doing exactly what he was elected to do to take out and strike the narco-terrorists who are flooding drugs into this country," he said.
"Trump's actions are aimed at preventing overdose deaths and punishing those behind the flow of drugs," Banks noted.
"President Trump is doing what he's supposed to do as commander in chief to save American lives, our sons, our daughters, our neighbors, our family members who have been affected by drug overdoses and hold those who are responsible for it accountable," he said.
Banks also cited public support for the approach, saying that "71% of Americans support what President Trump is doing on that front, and I stand with him, too."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.