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by DYLAN NOLAN
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South Carolina fifth district congressman Ralph Norman is pushing state lawmakers to paint the Palmetto State red by redrawing its sole Democrat-controlled congressional district.
FITSNews first took note of Norman’s redistricting push back in August – shortly after the 73-year old real estate developer launched his 2026 campaign for governor of South Carolina.
“Recently in Congress I said that we need to redistrict Jim Clyburn’s district,” Norman said. “We have six conservative Republicans, one Jim Clyburn, who I like – he’s a friend of mine, but he votes wrong for his people.”
Norman noted Clyburn “voted for Joe Biden, who let in illegals across the country that not only killed Americans, but took jobs from Americans.”
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“All that to say is his votes are just opposite (of) what South Carolina is, so let’s get seven Republicans,” Norman argued.
Norman’s efforts to secure a monolithic Republican legislative bloc in the Palmetto State is part of a broader nationwide redistricting arms race – one in which president Donald Trump has encouraged Republican-controlled states (including Texas, Florida and Missouri) to redraw district lines to maximize GOP representation in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Democrats in California and New York have responded in kind, advancing their own maximally partisan congressional maps.
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Norman’s raising of this issue coincides with the U.S. Supreme Court hearing oral arguments in Louisiana v. Callais, a case stemming from Louisiana’s 2020 redistricting – which lower courts have claimed violated provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Louisiana is urging the court to bar the consideration of race in the drawing of districts, something which has forced southern states to create majority-minority districts since the act’s inception.
Should the court side with Louisiana – an entirely possible outcome given the underlying case law’s lack of a constitutional foundation – multiple southern states are expected to redistrict to eliminate federally-mandated Democrat house seats.
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Even it the court permits South Carolina’s GOP supermajority to advance a racially-neutral congressional map, it’s not entirely clear whether legislative leaders have an appetite to advance such a plan.
When asked about the possibility of mid-decade redistricting by The (Columbia, S.C.) State newspaper’s Joe Bustos this August, S.C. House and Senate leadership threw cold water on the idea.
“Is (there) anything less than zero?” House majority leader Davey Hiott told Bustos, referring to the House’s appetite to address the issue.
Senate judiciary committee chairman Luke Rankin concurred.
“It’s gubernatorial season,” Rankin told Bustos. “It’s not redistricting season.”
Rankin, incidentally, spent his first twelve years in elected office as a Democrat.
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Also worth noting? Clyburn – who has previously decried South Carolina’s redistricting process as racist – has worked cooperatively with GOP leaders to redraw the state’s maps for decades, ensuring his district’s percentage of the black, voting age population did not fall below a certain level.
Norman wants Trump to demand Palmetto State legislators redraw the state’s congressional maps – whether they like it or not.
“It’s time to end the rigged sixth,” Norman spokesman Evan Newman told FITSNews. “Ralph Norman is hoping President Trump helps apply pressure to the weak-kneed Republicans in the legislature to get it done.”
Even so, Republicans eager to maximize GOP representation in the U.S. House have questions about the feasibility of such a plan – a debate which is playing out in real-time.
“All these tweets and not once has he told us how he’s going to do it without us losing the first,” political strategist Wesley Donehue wrote on X in response to Norman’s repeated calls for redistricting.
That’s a reference to the Palmetto State’s first competitive district, which has been competitive in the past – and would likely become competitive again in the event the sixth district were redrawn.
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After 38 years of uninterrupted “Republican” rule, the first district – which spans from north of Charleston to the coast of Beaufort County – was briefly held by Democrat Joe Cunningham from 2019-2021.
In the 2020 election, Cunningham was narrowly defeated by Nancy Mace – who won reelection decisively in 2022. Mace’s victory margins expanded further as a result of the 2020 redistricting process.
While Norman has yet to produce a map, others have proffered their own versions – including Berkeley County GOP chairman John Mace McGrath.
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It's pretty doable to draw 7 double-digit Trump seats.. I think the closest district on this map is R+14. pic.twitter.com/MylHf8IiF9
— Mace McGrath (@MaceMcGrath) October 16, 2025
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Donehue was quick to find the flaws in McGrath’s map, asking whether his proposed fourth district “come(s) with an airplane” – and noting the strife likely to ensue from breaking up power bases of voters in Charleston and Myrtle Beach.
Regardless of the political appetite – or viability – of redistricting in South Carolina at present, Trump’s pressure and the potential for a new legal standard for redistricting guarantees this issue will remain relevant in the battle for America’s political future in the months and years to come.
Count on FITSNews to continue to track these developments nationwide – and at home – and to keep our readers apprised of their implications for Palmetto politics.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
(Via: Travis Bell)
Dylan Nolan is the director of special projects at FITSNews. He graduated from the Darla Moore school of business in 2021 with an accounting degree. Got a tip or story idea for Dylan? Email him here. You can also engage him socially @DNolan2000.
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5 comments
“Norman noted Clyburn “voted for Joe Biden, who let in illegals across the country that not only killed Americans, but took jobs from Americans.”
And Norman votes for Trump, a convicted felon, crypto scammer, sexual assaulter, friend of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine “I wish her well” Maxwell, is conducting extrajudicial murders of random boats, sending troops into Democratic cities…because, is taxing everyone with his tariffs, screwing over farmers who voted for him by sending $40 billion to Argentina, is literally destroying the White House…I could go on but the cult doesn’t care.
And let’s pour one out for Will and Fizznews. Any other president doing half of this stuff would result in a daily cascade of blahg posts but quiet as a mouse about Trump, save for the deficit. Even Drudge has the nuts to push back occasionally. FauxbertarianNews.
In Will’s defense a lot of people are scared of the current administration. I think it’s silly because these are useless bullies, but nothing about Will suggests he has the kind of fortitude it would take to challenge anyone in real power. So I will give him a pass. Fighting the power is not for everyone, and it’s definitely for this blog.
Why are they worried about competitive districts? If Republican policies are better for the people, would it not be easier to just tell the citizens your plans and get their votes the old fashioned way?
Ralph does not like Clyburn because he voted for for Biden who “ let in illegals across the country that not only killed Americans but took jobs from Americans.” If the Congressman would take the time to do a little research instead of just blindly repeating Trump talking points, he would find that the crime rate among illegals is actually lower than that of legal citizens. Furthermore, exactly what type of jobs is it that immigrants take that deprive native Americans the opportunity? Would it be working in meat-packing plants and slaughterhouses, would it be roofing or landscaping in the hot sun, the backbreaking harvesting of crops, or would it be in service industries for little more than minimum wage. Incidentally, did not the issue of hiring illegals come up when a certain SC State Representative ran against Congressman John Spratt a number of years back? Seems like the issue concerned him hiring illegals to work in his multi-million dollar construction company.
Dylan – nice work here. Would like to have seen more meat on the bone about the neutering of Section 2 of the Federal Votings Right Act by the Supreme Court would not only affect the Southeastern United States; it would be the new case precedent for the law of the land where all states would be subservient to the Supreme Court Ruling.