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by WILL FOLKS
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Weeks after South Carolina “Republican” leaders rebuffed U.S. president Donald Trump‘s appeal to redraw congressional boundaries, Florida joined multiple other GOP states in heeding his call.
Sunshine State governor Ron DeSantis announced on Wednesday (January 7, 2026) his intention to reconvene the Florida legislature in April for a special session dedicated to redrawing congressional boundaries. Florida currently has 28 congressional districts – 20 held by Republicans and eight (8) held by Democrats.
Apparently, DeSantis thinks the GOP can pad that advantage…
“I will be convening a special session of the Legislature focused on redistricting to ensure that Florida’s congressional maps accurately reflect the population of our state,” DeSantis wrote on X. “Every Florida resident deserves to be represented fairly and constitutionally.”
“This special session will take place after the regular legislative session, which will allow the Legislature to first focus on the pressing issues facing Floridians before devoting its full attention to congressional redistricting in April,” DeSantis added.
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Eager to expand upon the GOP’s razor-thin majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, Trump has been pushing Republican-controlled states to redraw their political boundaries ahead of the decennial census. Multiple states have responded to his call – including Texas and North Carolina.
Meanwhile, several Democrat-controlled states – led by California – have been redrawing their political boundaries in an effort to offset the anticipated GOP gains.
In South Carolina, fifth district congressman (and 2026 gubernatorial candidate) Ralph Norman has been leading the fight to get the Palmetto State’s lines redrawn. As we reported last month, though, it’s been a lonely battle.
Aside from Norman and the conservative S.C. Freedom Caucus, there’s been zero appetite amongst Palmetto State “Republicans” to do anything on redistricting. Less than zero appetite, actually.
South Carolina has seven congressional districts – six held by Republicans and one held by Democrats. The Democrat-controlled district – the heavily gerrymandered sixth district – has been held since its inception by Jim Clyburn.
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RELATED | S.C. REPUBLICANS REBUFF TRUMP ON REDISTRICTING
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Since his election in 1992, Clyburn has conspired with “Republican” leaders to ensure the sixth remained a “majority-minority” district – meaning its percentage of the black, voting age population would never fell below a certain level.
In the fall of 2021, FITSNews penned a lengthy story discussing the extent to which Clyburn was manipulating the redistricting process – working in secret with GOP leaders to protect his fiefdom. More recently, Clyburn’s self-serving role was exposed for all to see by ProPublica.
As pressure mounts on this issue, Norman said he was encouraged by DeSantis’ decision.
“It is great to see Florida taking immediate action to ensure their congressional districts are represented fairly; it is past time that South Carolina does the same”, Norman wrote on X. “I call on the Republican Supermajority to act swiftly to ensure the voices of South Carolinians are heard by redistricting the rigged 6th district.”
Lawmakers could conceivably address this issue when they reconvene in Columbia, S.C. next Tuesday (January 13, 2025). S.C. Freedom Caucus chairman Jordan Pace has filed a bill, H. 4717, which would scrap the current congressional map and replace it with seven new districts – each likely to send a Republican representative to Washington, D.C.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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2 comments
Politicians deciding their voters, what a win for democracy. Billionaires win again.
The General Assembly is not going to redistrict the gerrymandered 6th, despite how blatantly obvious it is that it was drawn on purely racial terms. The Republicans are too afraid of the weaponized term “racist” being thrown at them.