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by WILL FOLKS
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Mere days after allies of U.S. president Donald Trump declared victory in the battle to redraw South Carolina’s seven congressional districts, the Republican-controlled S.C. Senate dealt his map a stunning and ignominious defeat.
Fourteen Republicans voted on Tuesday afternoon (May 26, 2026) to carry over Trump’s redistricting bill – H. 5683 – guaranteeing the legislation would not receive a pivotal third reading. That meant the legislation would fall just short of reaching the desk of governor Henry McMaster.
A previous opponent of redistricting, McMaster flip-flopped earlier this month when Trump began applying pressure on Palmetto politicians to redraw the state’s congressional districts. Trump had hoped to pad Republicans’ narrow majority in Washington, D.C. by convincing South Carolina Republicans to redraw the state’s current 6–1 Republican congressional majority to create a clean 7–0 GOP sweep.
After the Senate initially rebuffed Trump on this issue, McMaster called state lawmakers back into session to deal with it – a move many believed was a quid pro quo aimed at boosting the stock of his would-be successor, lieutenant governor Pamela Evette.
Ultimately, McMaster’s belated fealty to Trump failed to move the needle… both for the redistricting push and for Evette.
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Trump had hoped to convince Republican state lawmakers into getting rid the heavily gerrymandered S.C. sixth congressional district, which has been represented for decades by liberal Democrat Jim Clyburn. Unfortunately for the White House, by the time the GOP finally got moving on the issue it was too late.
As the debate wore on, resistance to Trump’s proposed maps grew.
Only five Republicans defied Trump on the initial votes against the new maps, but their numbers swelled as the S.C. Election Commission (SCVotes) reported huge turnout across the state on Tuesday for early voting. As of 4:00 p.m. EDT, an estimated 50,000 South Carolinians had already cast their ballots – each of them voting based on the existing congressional maps. Combined with nearly 5,000 returned absentee ballots, these early votes helped cement the legal case against redrawing the districts in the middle of an election.
The political case? That’s another story…
Democrats – who occupy a mere 12 seats in the chamber – were able to leverage their influence to exert outsized influence over the proceedings.
“What people did not see was how strategic and methodical the Democratic caucus was behind the scenes,” state senator Ed Sutton told FITSNews. “We had a day-by-day plan for where the procedural chokepoints were and when we needed to be ready to strike.”
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Sutton told us his party’s goal was to delay the vote until early voting, an objective Democrats met – and exceeded.
“Our goal was to delay passage until early voting began, which would strengthen the legal and political case against this bill,” he said. “But we exceeded that goal by working across the aisle and defeating it outright.”
Sutton said Democrats “built coalitions inside and outside the chamber, especially with veterans, military families, and South Carolinians who showed up at the polls in record numbers.”
“Trump overplayed his hand,” he added. “South Carolina has a long independent streak, and this fight galvanized Republicans, Democrats, and independents who do not want our election laws dictated by Washington, D.C.”
“While I breathe, I vote,” he concluded.
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Here's the face the @SCSenateGOP just made to @RealDonaldTrump… pic.twitter.com/91JKH8xGa3
— FITSNews (@fitsnews) May 26, 2026
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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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