The Republican-led South Carolina state Senate rejected a measure Tuesday to take up a redraw of the state’s congressional map despite pressure from President Donald Trump.
A resolution that would have extended the state’s legislative session, set to end this week, to tackle redistricting fell short of the two-thirds support needed, with five Republicans voting against it.
The vote shuts the door, at least for now, on Republican plans to carve up the state’s lone majority-Black district, represented by longtime Democratic Rep. James Clyburn, before the midterm elections. South Carolina’s primaries are set for June 9.
Trump had urged the state Senate to pass the resolution, which the state House had previously approved, on Truth Social on Monday night.
“The South Carolina State Senate has a big vote tomorrow on Redistricting. I’m watching closely, along with all Republicans across the Country,” Trump posted. “South Carolina Republicans: BE BOLD AND COURAGEOUS, just like the Republicans of the Great State of Tennessee were last week! Move the U.S. House Primaries to August, leave the rest on the same schedule. Everything will be fine. GET IT DONE!”
A major U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month that limited using race in redistricting has paved the way for GOP-controlled states with majority-minority districts represented by Democrats to consider redrawing their maps.
Tennessee passed a map last week that divides up the state’s only majority-Black district. And Alabama and Louisiana Republicans are taking steps toward new district lines that would result in additional seats for their party.
The court’s ruling turbocharged an already aggressive mid-decade redistricting battle as the parties vie for control of the narrowly divided House this fall. Based on the eight new maps that have been enacted over the past year, Republicans could gain as many as 14 seats, compared with six for Democrats.
Separately on Tuesday, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that a map Republicans drew last year to divide up the state’s lone Democratic district can go into effect for this year’s midterms, even as opponents are advancing a ballot referendum to repeal it.
But the South Carolina state Senate’s vote Tuesday is a setback for Republicans seeking to further expand their redistricting advantage heading into the midterms.
With the legislative session due to end Thursday afternoon, lawmakers needed more time to complete the multistep process of passing a new map. On Monday, Republicans in the House voted to extend the end of their legislative session, and the Senate spent all of its session Tuesday debating the same measure.
In an extensive floor speech, Republican Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey said trying to draw a new map would be short-sighted.
“I believe that our state is stronger with vibrant parties. I think we, as a whole, are stronger when we have a clash of ideas. I think that’s true at the national level. I think it’s true at the state level. We are stronger when we have a clash of ideas and we can discuss those policy goals,” Massey said. “Republicans are stronger when the Democrat Party is vibrant and viable.”
He also took on Trump indirectly, comparing his defiance of the president to South Carolina’s role in the U.S. Civil War.
“I have too much Southern blood in me to surrender. Indeed, as some of you will recognize, it is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid, to think and act for myself,” he said. “I’ve got too much Southern in my blood. I’ve got too much resistance in my heritage.”
The next steps for Republicans pushing for redistricting in South Carolina are unclear, but they have options. One is the possibility that Republican Gov. Henry McMaster will call a special session for lawmakers to tackle the issue.
In a post on X Tuesday evening, McMaster said the Legislature “still has two full days in which to finish its important work, including giving full consideration — as sought by the people — to the important question of redistricting.” But he did not mention a special session.
Several of the Republican candidates running for governor in South Carolina blasted the GOP state senators who rejected the resolution.
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson called the outcome a “missed opportunity” for Republicans and said McMaster should convene a special session. Rep. Ralph Norman said “NONE of them should be in public office after the next election” in a post on X.
And Rep. Nancy Mace posted, “We need a Governor who the statehouse will fear and listen to. You know I’d whip every single ‘NO’ vote into shape if I was Governor.”
Tuesday’s vote came a week after five Indiana state senators who voted against a Trump-backed redistricting plan last year lost their Republican primaries to challenges he endorsed. In South Carolina, state senators aren’t up for re-election until 2028.
