South Carolina lawmakers on Tuesday advanced a redistricting proposal, marking the Republican Party’s latest effort to boost its power in the House of Representatives.
The state’s House judiciary subcommittee passed the proposal in a 3-2 vote. It is now headed to the full judiciary committee for approval. If approved by the state legislature and upheld by courts, the new political map would redraw the only House seat South Carolina held by a Democrat, likely enabling a Republican to flip Rep. Jim Clyburn’s (D-SC) 6th Congressional District red.
Attorney General Alan Wilson and other South Carolina leaders celebrated the vote’s outcome this week, after President Donald Trump pressed the GOP to pass the redistricting measure.
“This is about fair, constitutional districts that reflect the people of our state,” Wilson said in a post to X. “Momentum is building. Keep contacting your senators.”
Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette responded to Trump’s redistricting push by telling lawmakers to” immediately redraw our congressional districts by any means necessary to produce fair, constitutional maps.”
Their words come after Trump on Monday evening told the Palmetto State he was “watching closely” the outcome of Tuesday’s “big vote.”
“They have to stop the Radical Left Democrats from destroying our Country, including leveling the playing field against their decades of egregious Gerrymandering and Census Rigging,” the president said in a post to Truth Social. “South Carolina Republicans: BE BOLD AND COURAGEOUS.”
The 6th district, which Republicans are looking to redraw, is South Carolina’s only majority-minority seat. The GOP eyed the seat, which Clyburn has held for over three decades, for redistricting in response to the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that pushed back on racial gerrymandering and protections for majority-black districts.
In Louisiana v. Callais, the majority said states should have greater freedom to redraw political maps without prioritizing racial outcomes, marking a setback for race-based districting. The decision triggered pushes from several red states, including Mississippi and Georgia, to eliminate and redraw race-based districts.
In South Carolina, Clyburn has condemned Republicans for looking to redraw his seat, and give the GOP a boost, arguing their singular goal is to “eliminate the state’s only Democratic House district that is occupied by a Democrat.”
“This fight is bigger than one district,” Clyburn said last week. “It’s about whether our democracy belongs to the people, or to politicians who change the rules when they don’t like the results. We cannot let them succeed.”
Republicans have pushed back against criticism.
VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS MAKE LONG-SHOT SUPREME COURT APPEAL AFTER REDISTRICTING LOSS
“SC Democrat Rep John King says the redistricting effort ‘seems racist,’” Republican state Rep. Adam Morgan said Tuesday. “His comments made while defending a district drawn in the basis of race. The liberal mind is fascinating. …”
Should South Carolina’s redistricting effort be successful, it would likely give the GOP control over all seven of the state’s House seats. Republicans currently hold 6 of the 7 seats.