{"id":1415,"date":"2026-05-26T11:02:58","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T18:02:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/26\/south-carolina-senate-rejects-president-trumps-call-to-redraw-congressional-maps\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T11:02:58","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T18:02:58","slug":"south-carolina-senate-rejects-president-trumps-call-to-redraw-congressional-maps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/26\/south-carolina-senate-rejects-president-trumps-call-to-redraw-congressional-maps\/","title":{"rendered":"South Carolina Senate rejects President Trump\u2019s call to redraw congressional maps"},"content":{"rendered":"
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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) \u2014 The South Carolina Senate on Tuesday rejected President Donald Trump\u2019s push to redraw the state\u2019s congressional district in hopes Republicans could gain an additional seat in the midterm elections.<\/p>

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Senators had political concerns, worrying that any map in a state where Democrats got at least 40% of votes in the past eight presidential elections couldn\u2019t guarantee Republican wins in all seven districts.<\/p>\n

And there were logistical worries. Statewide primaries are June 9, with early voting starting Tuesday. The plan had called for throwing out any congressional votes already cast and holding another statewide primary just for U.S. House races in August.<\/p>\n

Election officials said holding three statewide elections in five months would require employees to work around the clock to prepare voting machines and ballots and to meet legal requirements.<\/p>\n

The proposal\u00a0passed the South Carolina House\u00a0last Wednesday after two days of long debate.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s push in South Carolina was part of his broader effort to get Republican-led states to\u00a0redraw congressional maps\u00a0in hopes of retaining the party\u2019s slim majority in the November elections.<\/p>\n

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) \u2014 Early in-person voting began Tuesday in South Carolina\u2019s primaries, as state senators considered whether to cancel the congressional votes and instead schedule a new primary under revised districts designed to help Republicans oust a longtime Democrat.<\/p>\n

Among the first to cast an early ballot in the small city of Orangeburg was U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, the Democrat whose district Republicans are trying to reshape in their quest for a clean sweep of South Carolina\u2019s seven congressional seats. A defiant Clyburn insisted he would run for reelection, regardless of what the district looks like.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m OK if it\u2019s Trump plus 20,\u201d Clyburn said while describing the potential Republican advantage in a reshaped district. \u201cI would be running where I live.\u201d<\/p>\n

The political drama in South Carolina is part of a Republican strategy \u2014 propelled President Donald Trump \u2014 to redraw voting districts to the GOP\u2019s advantage in an attempt to hold on to a slim House majority in the midterm elections. Republicans have been moving quickly to try to leverage a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that weakened minority protections under the federal Voting Rights Act.<\/p>

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But the GOP suffered a setback Tuesday in Alabama, where a three-judge federal panel issued a preliminary injunction blocking the state from using a Republican-drawn congressional map that could help the GOP win an additional seat. The court said the Republican plan \u201cintentionally discriminated based on race\u201d by including only one Black-majority district and ordered the continued use of a court-imposed map that includes two districts with a significant proportion of Black residents.<\/p>\n

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, a Republican, vowed a quick appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and predicted an eventual victory.<\/p>\n

Democrats, who have suffered their own share of setbacks in the national redistricting battle, praised the turn of events in Alabama.<\/p>

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The \u201cfight for justice is far from over in states across the country where politicians are enacting gerrymanders on top of gerrymanders to erase equal representation for communities of color,\u201d said Marina Jenkins, executive director of the National Redistricting Foundation, a nonprofit affiliate of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee.<\/p>\n