After a group of Indiana Republican legislators rejected their party\u2019s redistricting plan last year, they faced public ridicule from President Donald Trump and millions of dollars in negative attack ads, with several ultimately losing their jobs Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But three of those state senators told NBC News on Wednesday that they have no second thoughts about the vote that put them in the spotlight and led to their defeats at the hands of Trump-backed challengers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have zero regrets,\u201d state Sen. Greg Walker, a 20-year veteran of the chamber, said after he lost to state Rep. Michelle Davis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo,\u201d state Sen. Jim Buck, who at 80 has served in the Legislature for more than three decades, said when he was asked whether he regretted his vote against the redrawn congressional map. \u201cMy district told me overwhelmingly to vote no, and that\u2019s what I did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t regret it,\u201d added state Sen. Linda Rogers. \u201cI followed the wishes of my district.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Walker, Buck and Rogers were among the seven state Senate Republicans on the ballot Tuesday who faced primary opponents endorsed by Trump after they opposed a congressional map proposal designed to give their party an additional two seats. The lawmakers said voters in their districts overwhelmingly saw the unusual mid-decade redistricting effort as unfair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was a rare rebuke of Trump, who had aggressively lobbied them to pass it as part of his broader campaign to enact new district lines around the country to boost the GOP in the midterm elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Five of the seven lost their primaries Tuesday, while another, Greg Goode, advanced to the general election. The other, Spencer Deery, led Trump-backed Paula Copenhaver by just three votes in a race that remained too close to call Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a text message to NBC News, Deery struck a similar note as his colleagues on his redistricting vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI will never regret listening to constituents and doing the right thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump\u2019s decision to get involved supercharged Indiana\u2019s typically under-the-radar legislative primaries. According to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact, around $12 million was spent on ads in the seven races in which Trump-backed candidates were running against incumbent senators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Facing an avalanche of negative ads from outside groups allied with Trump felt futile at times, the lawmakers said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As he picked up his now-defunct yard signs from his district following his loss to Tipton County Commission member Tracey Powell, Buck noted that roughly $1.3 million was spent on ads opposing him in his primary. By comparison, his campaign didn\u2019t even hit $150,000 in ad spending, according to AdImpact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo matter how hard you try, perception becomes reality,\u201d Buck said. \u201cYou tell a lie enough times, and it becomes the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Buck said the influx of money was the biggest change over his 18 years in the state Senate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDark money has really become an issue to deal with, but it\u2019s the people are starting to lose their voice, and that worries me,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a rich man\u2019s playground, and I just feel sorry for that. I know that I couldn\u2019t run again on my own like I did years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rogers, who was defeated by Brian Schmutzler, said the attack ads were relentless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m very fortunate that I was able to raise significant dollars, but it doesn\u2019t compete with the millions that poured in and when they played the same negative TV ads three, four times in an hour,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Buck, Rogers and Walker said they worried their primary defeats would send a signal to other legislators around the country that they wouldn\u2019t be able to stand up to Trump if they felt it was in the best interest of their state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is what our founders feared the most \u2014 that Washington would all of a sudden feel like they have the right to dictate what the states do,\u201d Buck said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rogers said, \u201cOne person should not be making all the decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, the mid-decade redistricting battle these lawmakers pushed back against has continued apace nationwide. Eight states have enacted new congressional maps over the past year. And a major U.S. Supreme Court ruling last week could pave the way for others to join them soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Walker said such efforts were a key problem in modern politics, at both the state and national levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s how Congress functions or dysfunctions today. It\u2019s the threat of primaries,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd you can\u2019t do that unless you have hyper-partisan gerrymandering districts. You can\u2019t accomplish that mission of threat and coercion to bow to whatever the top dog says unless you create the structure for it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n