The Indiana Senate on Monday opened debate on the new congressional map during a special session, two days after the Indiana House approved the redistricting plan pushed by president Trump to secure a 9-0 Republican seats in the midterms.

But in mid-November, Republican leaders in the Indiana Senate said that they would not hold a vote on the matter because there was not enough support for it. Trump lashed out on social media, calling the senators weak and pathetic.

“Any Republican that votes against this important redistricting, potentially having an impact on America itself, should be PRIMARIED,” he wrote.

The threats against senators began shortly after that. However, Sen. Sue Glick, a Republican first elected in 2010 who previously served as a local prosecutor, appeared unfazed as she returned to the Senate for the special session Monday.

"My district's overwhelmingly opposed to this," Sue said. "I like to reflect my district as well as my belief that that government is a representative form of democracy and we want to be fair to everyone concerned."

Even supporters of the new map are not immune to threats.

Republican Sen. Andy Zay said his vehicle-leasing business was targeted with a pipe bomb scare on the same day he learned that he would face a primary challenger who accuses Zay of being insufficiently conservative.

"As a legislator and having to make tough decisions, choosing red or green on any policy that comes before us," Zay said. "But it's always difficult to go home and meet with your wife and your family and explain to them the purpose of the role that you have and and just discerning and doing that and again voting red or green. And it does come down to a question of is it worth it? I mean is our family safety worth it?"

Redistricting is normally done once a decade after a new national census. Trump wants to accelerate the process in hopes of protecting the Republicans’ thin majority in the U.S. House next year. His allies in Texas, Missouri, Ohio and North Carolina have already gone along with his plans for new political lines.

Now Trump’s campaign faces its greatest test yet in a stubborn pocket of Midwestern conservatism. Although Indiana Gov. Mike Braun and the House of Representatives are on board, the proposal may fall short with senators who value their civic traditions and independence over what they fear would be short-term partisan gain.

On Friday, Trump posted a list of senators who “need encouragement to make the right decision,” and he took to social media Saturday to say that if legislators “stupidly say no, vote them out of Office - They are not worthy - And I will be there to help!” Meanwhile, the conservative campaign organization Turning Point Action said it would spend heavily to unseat anyone who voted “no.”

Senators are scheduled to convene Monday to consider the proposal after months of turmoil. Resistance could signal the limits of Trump’s otherwise undisputed dominance of the Republican Party.

(AP video by Obed Lamy)