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by WILL FOLKS
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South Carolina governor Henry McMaster holds one of the most constitutionally impotent chief executive offices in America. As we’ve frequently noted, the Palmetto State’s government – forged in the aftermath of radical Reconstruction – is a legislative tyranny in which the all-powerful S.C. General Assembly controls both the judiciary and broad swaths of the executive branch.
It’s been that way since 1896, and the refusal of Republican and Democrat leaders to fix this broken structure is one of the primary reasons South Carolina continues to lag behind the rest of the nation in all the important metrics.
Every so often, though, governors in South Carolina get to exercise some actual power… and this week, McMaster is doing just that.
According to our sources, on Wednesday afternoon (May 13, 2026), McMaster informed legislative leaders that he was calling them back for a special session after they failed to agree on a resolution that would let them take up the controversial issue of redrawing the state’s congressional districts.
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As we have previously reported, Trump is aggressively pushing GOP-controlled states to redraw their political maps ahead of the next decennial census – which is when states typically reconfigure their congressional borders based on the latest population data. His goal is to maximize Republican representation in the U.S. House of Representatives, which currently enjoys a razor-thin GOP majority.
Multiple states have responded to Trump’s call – but not South Carolina. In fact, GOP leaders – including McMaster – have stonewalled him for months on this issue.
Trump allies – led by S.C. House speaker Murrell Smith – insist the White House map would give Republicans a 7–0 sweep of the state’s congressional delegation (even though recent polling data disputes that contention).
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Opponents of the new map, including S.C. Senate majority leader Shane Massey, argue it would at best preserve the Palmetto State’s current 6–1 Republican edge (and perhaps even lead to a 5–2 split of the state’s congressional delegation).
Massey has also argued the S.C. Election Commission (SCVotes) has already mailed more than 8,000 absentee ballots based on the current district lines (and received hundreds of these ballots back).
On Tuesday (May 12, 2026), the S.C. Senate refused to go along with a House resolution that would have let the chambers adjourn with redistricting on its agenda.
That put the matter in McMaster’s hands…
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? BREAKING: South Carolina governor @HenryMcmaster has notified legislative leaders that he is calling a special session of the S.C. General Assembly. The House will return this Friday (5/15/2026) and the Senate will return the following Monday (5/18/2026). pic.twitter.com/vKOHXwHmd6
— FITSNews (@fitsnews) May 13, 2026
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Per our sources, McMaster’s impending order will result in the S.C. House being called back this Friday (May 15, 2026) with the State Senate reassembling the following Monday (May 18, 2026).
Things will move quickly, at that point. On Friday, the House will reportedly pass Trump’s maps – and establish August 18, 2026 as the new date for the Palmetto State’s congressional primary elections. At some point next week, the Senate will approve both items, we’re told.
“We’ll pass the new map and the new election dates with a simple majority,” a source familiar with the vote count in the Senate confirmed.
The source further confirmed Trump backers currently have enough votes to shut down any attempted filibuster of the changes being pushed by the White House.
This is a developing story… please check back for updates.
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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
Called it. Daddy Trump controls all the impotent weasels in his party. It will be interesting to see how much all this gerrymandering turns into dummymandering, because Trump tends to fuck up just about everything.
Meanwhile how excited are we for Venezuela to become the 51st state?
As I said before. SC Republicans are disgusting, spineless cowards. They would crawl to Florida on their knees and kiss the ass of Trump’s golden idol, if he told them to. It’s time to change horses in this state.