Redistricting push in South Carolina fails after state Senate bails
South Carolina’s Senate voted 24-20 against advancing a proposed congressional redistricting map, putting an end to a push to redraw the state’s single majority-Black district. The effort had been urged by President Donald Trump and his allies after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month overturned Louisiana’s second majority-Black district.
Although the state House approved the new map, the Senate stopped it amid concerns from some Republicans about the rushed timeline and the process. The measure likely would have removed Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) from his seat and shifted South Carolina’s congressional delegation to a 7-0 Republican advantage.With the Senate’s action,lawmakers effectively delayed deciding on new lines until a legislative session after the June primaries.
Gov. Henry McMaster scheduled a special session for May 14 to address redistricting. The article also notes that similar timing challenges followed the Supreme Court decision in other southern states,with Georgia calling a special session for later elections while Alabama faced a federal court block on new maps.
The South Carolina Senate has put an end to a recent redistricting push, voting 24-20 against advancing a new map.
After the Supreme Court decision last month that overturned Louisiana’s second majority-black district, President Donald Trump and his allies pushed South Carolina Republicans to push through a new map that would redraw its single majority-black district.
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The state House approved the new map last week, but the state Senate ended the effort.
“Neither my conscience nor my common sense will allow me to stop an election that is already underway,” state Sen. Richard Cash, a Republican, said at the time of the vote.
The redistricting measure would have likely drawn the state’s only Democratic congressman, Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), out of his seat and shifted the state’s congressional delegation to a 7-0 Republican margin.
Republicans complained about the pace of the redistricting effort, compared to the last time around, when it took them nine months to create and install a new map.
“We have completely outsourced our constitutional obligation to prepare a congressional redistricting map to a consultant in Washington, D.C.,” Republican state Sen. Tom Davis said. “We have no idea, no idea how that map was created.”
The lawmakers have effectively punted the decision on a new map until a legislative session after the primary.
Gov. Henry McMaster (R-SC) called the state legislature back for a special session on May 14 to take up redistricting in the Palmetto State. McMaster’s order for a special session came just days after the state Senate initially bucked another push from President Donald Trump for redistricting during the General Assembly’s regular session.
That first push failed in the state Senate by a vote of 29-17, just two votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass the measure. This time around, more Republicans dissented to buck the redistricting measure, as early voting began on Tuesday ahead of the June 9 primaries.
The crunched timeline between the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais and the start of the 2026 primary election season has caused difficulty for several southern states that have sought to redraw their lines following the decision.
COURT BLOCKS ALABAMA REPUBLICANS’ PLAN TO INSTATE NEW MAP
In neighboring Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) called a special session to redraw the state’s congressional map for the 2028 elections, punting the decision as the state’s 2026 primaries were already underway.
Trump had urged South Carolina legislators to fall in line to support the state’s redistricting measure ahead of the 2026 elections, asking them on Truth Social to “BE BOLD AND COURAGEOUS” and push their House primaries back to August, while leaving the rest of the state’s elections on schedule as they were.
“Everything will be fine,” Trump wrote.
The loss is the second setback for Republicans on Tuesday, after a federal court ruled against new maps in Alabama, which would have redrawn one of the two Democratic-leaning districts. The panel ruled that the new map “represents an intentional effort to crack the Black population in Alabama.”
The state is likely to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
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