The Republican-led South Carolina Senate on Tuesday voted against a measure to advance a new congressional map, ending the last-minute redistricting effort in the state for now.
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The failed vote was a surprise rejection of President Donald Trump, who had urged lawmakers to pass a redrawn map that eliminated the state’s single majority-Black district, represented by longtime Democratic Rep. James Clyburn.
The South Carolina House approved the map last week in hopes of putting it into place for this year’s midterm elections. As part of the effort, lawmakers also sought to set another primary election for the affected districts in August. But after early voting began on Tuesday for the previously scheduled June primary, some Republicans changed their tune, arguing it was too late to enact new district lines.
“Neither my conscience nor my common sense will allow me to stop an election that is already underway,” said Republican state Sen. Richard Cash, a Republican who changed his vote due to timing.
Following the vote, another prominent Republican, state Sen. Tom Davis, condemned the effort. An earlier redistricting process took nine months of consideration, he said, while this push moved forward over the course of a few weeks.
“We have completely outsourced our constitutional obligation to prepare a congressional redistricting map to a consultant in Washington, D.C. We have no idea, no idea how that map was created,” Davis said.
Republicans in the South Carolina Senate had signaled their resistance to redrawing the state’s congressional map earlier this month, refusing to take up a new proposal as part of its regularly scheduled session. But amid pressure from the White House and national Republicans, Gov. Henry McMaster quickly called lawmakers back for a special session to tackle the issue.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey said at the time that the effort 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 at the time. “Republicans are stronger when the Democrat Party is vibrant and viable.”
Election officials in the state had also raised concerns about making the last-minute changes and setting up additional primaries. Conway Belangia, the executive director of the South Carolina Election Commission, told a state Senate committee it would cost an additional $6 million to implement the district lines for this year’s election.
South Carolina is one of several states that rushed to take up new district lines after a major Supreme Court ruling on racial gerrymandering. In recent weeks, Florida and Tennessee have enacted new maps, while Louisiana Republicans are advancing their own proposal.
It’s the culmination of a year-long redistricting war, which started last summer when Trump urged Republican-led states to redraw their maps to shore up the party’s slim House majority.
Some of the battles over the map are still playing out in the courts. On Tuesday, a panel of federal judges blocked Alabama from using a Republican-drawn map that could net the party an additional seat. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said the state would appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.
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