By Sydney Byerly
The Indiana Citizen
December 17, 2025
Gov. Mike Braun is at odds with Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith over how President Donald Trump’s administration will respond to Indiana’s failure to approve new congressional maps, with Braun forcefully rejecting Beckwith’s claims that Trump will seek to stop federal dollars from flowing to Indiana and a top Democrat calling their stories “irreconcilable.”
Braun called Beckwith’s allegation “fake news” in an interview with Fox59, saying the White House had not explicitly threatened to cut off federal funding if Indiana did not approve new maps to give Republicans who currently hold seven of the state’s nine congressional districts a chance to sweep all nine in next year’s midterm elections.
“There was no quid-pro-quo,” Braun said, adding that while the decision could affect Indiana’s relationship with the Trump administration, “what those consequences are, we’ll find out.”
Though Braun is downplaying the fallout of the redistricting bill’s failure last week in the state Senate, he had previously cited Indiana’s relationship with the Trump administration as he lobbied lawmakers to approve the new congressional maps.
In September, he told Fort Wayne’s WOWO that “if we try to drag our feet as a state on it, probably, we’ll have consequences of not working with the Trump administration as tightly as we should.”
In another interview with Fort Wayne’s WPTA, he pointed to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s plans for a regional hub in Indianapolis and said that if Indiana does not back the Trump administration’s political efforts, the state probably won’t “be the first call when it comes to the benefits” of federal government actions.
Beckwith, however, has doubled down on his account.
The back-and-forth stems from a social media post made by Heritage Action, the advocacy arm of the conservative Washington think tank Heritage Foundation, hours before the state Senate voted down Trump’s mid-decade redistricting plan, that if Indiana failed to approve the new maps, “all federal funding will be stripped from the state. Roads will not be paved. Guard bases will close. Major projects will stop.”
Beckwith – a strident backer of the redistricting push – echoed Heritage’s claims, posting on X that the Trump administration did threaten Indiana’s federal funding if lawmakers failed to act. That post has since been deleted.
Beckwith then reiterated the same claim in comments to Politico, saying: “The Trump admin was VERY clear about this. They told many lawmakers, cabinet members and the Gov and I that this would happen.”
In a follow-up text exchange with Playbook, Beckwith said the conversations were not threats but reflected how the White House chooses which states to prioritize for partnerships, noting that Indiana could lose out on specific projects – including a U.S. Department of Agriculture hub.
The discrepancy in the comments of Braun and Beckwith led Karen Tallian, chair of the Indiana Democratic Party and a former state senator, to ask in an interview with The Indiana Citizen: “Is someone lying?”
“Did Micah Beckwith reveal a felony when he said that Donald Trump threatened to withhold federal funding? Extortion is a crime. Does the lieutenant governor have evidence? Or shall we believe the governor who denies it ever happened?” Tallian said. “What are Hoosiers supposed to think when our two top executive officers are telling irreconcilable stories? Our leaders have a lot of questions to answer.”
Neither Beckwith nor his spokesperson immediately responded to requests made by The Indiana Citizen for comment or further clarification.
The lieutenant governor, who has aligned himself with Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement, has largely been alone in backing Heritage’s claims that the Trump administration would look to block federal dollars from flowing to Indiana because of the Republican supermajority legislature’s failure to approve new congressional maps.
Asked about the possibility of retaliation from the Trump administration immediately following the redistricting bill’s failure, Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray, R-Martinsville, told reporters last week he was not concerned. He added that he expects Indiana’s relationship with the federal government to remain stable.
“They’re entitled to have opinions about what we’re doing here. That’s fair. I’ve had conversations with them,” Bray said. “The goal is the same, but the method is perhaps a little different. Washington, D.C., will continue to function very well.”
Sydney Byerly is a political reporter who grew up in New Albany, Indiana. Before joining The Citizen, Sydney reported news for TheStatehouseFile.com and most recently managed and edited The Corydon Democrat & Clarion News in southern Indiana. She earned her bachelor’s in journalism at Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism (‘Sco Griz!).
The Indiana Citizen is a nonpartisan, nonprofit platform dedicated to increasing the number of informed and engaged Hoosier citizens. We are operated by the Indiana Citizen Education Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) public charity. For questions about the story, contact Marilyn Odendahl at marilyn.odendahl@indianacitizen.org.
