The revolt of Indiana Republicans came after direct months of lobbying from the White House.
On Wednesday, Trump warned on his social media platform Truth Social that Republicans who did not support the initiative could risk losing their seats.
He directly addressed the Republican leader of the state Senate, Rodric Bray, calling him “the only person in the United States of America who is against Republicans picking up extra seats”.
To liberals, it was a moment of celebration. Keith “Wildstyle” Paschall described the mood on Thursday as “jubilant”.
“There’s a lot of relief,” the Indianapolis-based activist told the BBC. “People had thought that we would have to move on to a legal strategy and didn’t believe we could defeat it directly at the statehouse.”
The new map would have redistricted parts of Indianapolis and potentially led to the ouster of Indiana’s lone black House representative, André Carson.
In the weeks before Thursday’s vote, Trump hosted Indiana lawmakers at the White House to win over holdouts.
He also dispatched Vice-President JD Vance down to Indiana twice to shore up support.
Nearly a dozen Indiana Republican lawmakers have said they were targeted with death threats and swatting attacks over the planned vote.
Ultimately, this redistricting plan fell flat in another setback for Trump following a string of recent Democratic wins in off-year elections.
The defeat appears to have added to Republican concerns.
“We have a huge problem,” said former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon during his podcast, The War Room.
“People have to realise that we only have a couple opportunities,” he said.
“If we don’t get a net 10 pickup in the redistricting wars, it’s going to be enormously hard, if not impossible, to hold the House.”
Texas was the first state to respond to Trump’s redistricting request.
After a lower court blocked the maps for being drawn illegally based on race, the Supreme Court allowed Texas Republicans to go ahead.
The decision was a major win for Republicans, with the new maps expected to add five seats in their favour.
California’s map is also expected to add five seats for Democrats.
