|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
by WILL FOLKS
***
U.S. president Donald Trump is ratcheting up the pressure on South Carolina senators to quickly redraw the state’s political map – a risky, partisan move aimed at helping reshape the balance of power in Washington, D.C. by giving Republicans an extra seat in congress.
While Trump is pushing senators to be “bold and courageous” in advancing the new map, his last-minute attempt to reset the Palmetto State’s congressional calculus is fraught with legal, logistical and political peril.
Every ten years, the results of the U.S. Census determine how many congressional seats each state has. Since 2013, South Carolina has had seven seats (six Republican and one Democrat).
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 maps ahead of the next decennial census. Multiple states have responded to his call – but not South Carolina. In fact, GOP leaders – and Palmetto State governor Henry McMaster – have stonewalled Trump on this issue for months.
***
Emboldened by a recent U.S. supreme court decision, Trump is now pressuring Republicans – who enjoy supermajorities in both the S.C. House and State Senate – to draw new congressional maps which eliminate the heavily gerrymandered sixth congressional district, a seat held since 1992 by Democrat Jim Clyburn.
Clyburn has worked collaboratively with GOP leaders for decades to protect his fiefdom. We’ve reported in meticulous detail on those machinations for years – exposing coordinated efforts on the part of Republican and Democrat lawmakers to ensure the percentage of black voters in Clyburn’s district never fell below a certain level.
“Clyburn and uniparty leaders in the S.C. General Assembly have been conspiring since the 1990s to draw partisan, non-representative, non-competitive political boundaries in the Palmetto State,” I noted last December.
Now, Trump is pushing the GOP to draw Clyburn out of his district – and to redraw all seven districts so Republicans ostensibly have a chance to win each one of them this fall. The White House map (below) is being touted by Trump supporters as a way to make sure the current 6–1 GOP majority becomes a clean 7–0 sweep of all of the state’s congressional districts come November.
***
***
Is it, though?
We’ve cautioned that recent polling in the Palmetto State doesn’t look particularly good for Trump (or the ruling GOP) – and that redrawing these political boundaries has the potential to backfire. Trump acknowledged the inherent risk in changing the maps last week during a call with Senate Republicans – but told them he believed it was a “risk worth taking.”
Political calculus notwithstanding, there’s another problem… namely that Trump and his allies waited until just four weeks before the Palmetto State’s partisan primary elections to plot their shift. The S.C. Election Commission (SCVotes) has already mailed thousands of absentee ballots based on the current district lines – and received hundreds of those ballots back.
What becomes of those votes if the congressional districts are reconfigured?
***
RELATED | SOUTH CAROLINA’S CHAOTIC POLITICAL CARTOGRAPHY
***
In the S.C. House of Representatives, speaker Murrell Smith – who is hoping to receive a federal judgeship from Trump – is working overtime to ram two pieces of legislation through his chamber. The first bill, H. 5683, would establish the district lines favored by the White House while the second bill – H. 5684 – would move partisan primary elections for South Carolina’s congressional districts to August 11, 2026.
H. 5684 is expected to be amended this week, however, to set August 18, 2026 as the new date for the congressional primaries owing to federal election compliance issues.
“Move the U.S. House primaries to August, leave the rest on the same schedule,” Trump wrote Monday evening (May 11, 2026) on his Truth Social platform. “Everything will be fine.”
***
— FITSNews (@fitsnews) May 12, 2026
***
Will it, though?
South Carolina senators are scheduled to cast a key procedural vote on the redistricting push today (May 12, 2026), with Trump making it clear he will be “watching closely.”
Last week, Smith’s loyal foot soldiers in the House voted overwhelmingly to include redistricting on the list of issues lawmakers can address after they adjourn for the year on May 14, 2026. Per the text of the amendment, lawmakers would be able to come back to Columbia to consider “bills and joint resolutions affecting redistricting for the seven seats of the U.S. House of Representatives… and any other related matters including, but not limited to, the 2026 election calendar.”
For Trump’s redistricting push to have a chance, the Senate must adopt that same language by a two-thirds margin when it votes today. If it fails to do so, the issue is dead. Assuming the Senate does agree to take up the redistricting issue, then the battle over the new maps will be officially underway.
“The South Carolina State Senate has a big vote tomorrow on redistricting,” Trump added in his Monday evening post. “I’m watching closely, along with all Republicans across the country who are counting on their elected leaders to use every legal and Constitutional authority 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,”
Once again, keep it tuned to FITSNews as we track the very latest developments in this ongoing political drama…
***
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.
***
WANNA SOUND OFF?
Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our articles? Or an issue you’d like to address proactively? We have an open microphone policy! Submit your letter to the editor (or guest column) via email HERE. Got a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE.
