Can Indiana lawmakers win after defying the president’s vote?

Indiana voters go to the polls today in a test of the Republican party’s staying power after the party’s state lawmakers resisted Donald Trump’s bruising campaign to pressure them into redrawing the congressional districts.

The vote has turned into a statewide referendum on political retribution.

Seven state senators who voted against Trump’s mid-decade redistricting push now face challengers endorsed by the president, who said that “every one of these people should be “primaried,” after the effort failed.

Trump-aligned dark money groups have spent upwards of $7m on TV ads in Indiana this year, according to a tally from AdImpact – the majority spent targeting Republicans who allied themselves with Democrats in the December redistricting vote.

Greg Goode, a first-term Republican representative from Terre Haute, now faces a competitive race in district 38 against city council member Brenda Wilson – who received backing from both Mike Braun, Indiana’s governor, and Trump – as well as a third candidate, Alexandra Wilson, who shares her last name but bears no relation.

Goode voted against Trump’s redistricting push after hosting a town hall event in which 71 people spoke out against the revision and none spoke in favor.

Jim Buck, a state senator from Kokomo, also faces a Trump challenge, after 18 years in office.

“We’ve never had Washington meddle into our elections like they have this time,” Buck told NPR. “Now I’ve got over $1m against me in one race.”

One ad takes aim at the 80-year-old public servant by calling him “old, pathetic, liberal”.