South Carolina’s House Republicans backed a new congressional redistricting plan late Tuesday, endorsing the measure just after midnight as Democrats objected from the chamber floor. The bill, sponsored by Republican Rep. Luke Rankin, would reshape the state’s only Democratic-held U.S. House district to Republicans’ advantage as lawmakers try to position the party for gains in the November midterm elections.
The push for the map is part of a broader effort across states to hold or expand the GOP’s slim House majority, and the House action came after President Donald Trump urged South Carolina to redraw its congressional districts ahead of November. Rankin described the vote as support for Trump, saying, “To President Trump,” adding, “I have your back and South Carolina Republicans have your back.”
House consideration ran long. After a 14-hour session that included reading the bill and all the Census data used to create the maps for over three hours, four Republicans voted against the measure. Democrats, meanwhile, praised U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn’s work on behalf of the state and repeatedly objected to attempts to reshape the district that Clyburn represents.
Clyburn, whose seat is targeted, said he would continue running for an 18th term even if his district is changed. During debate, Democratic state Rep. JA Moore said the bill was “wrong,” while Democratic lawmakers also rejected what they described as attempts to reshape the district over Republican objections. Republican state Rep. Melissa Oremus said Democrats were raising concerns in bad faith, asserting, “People are not being blocked from voting because of the color of their skin.”
Republicans moved the bill forward in a shortened Tuesday process after changing the rules earlier in the week. After Democrats debated proposed changes for hours on Monday, the Republican-controlled chamber limited members to only one amendment and set time limits for speeches on Tuesday, according to the AP report. Republicans quickly dismissed Democratic amendments, including proposals aimed at voter education about moving primaries, having the state pay local costs for a rescheduled congressional primary, and shifting the general election date back by two weeks.
In addition to redrawing district lines, the House measure would adjust the election calendar if a new map becomes law in time to be used for the upcoming federal races. To buy time for implementation, the legislation would remove U.S. House races from June primaries and instead set a special primary election in August to select candidates. The plan also would discard some absentee and overseas military votes that had already been cast for Congress under the earlier schedule.
Republicans said the redistricting could improve their chances in November, but some in the state Senate questioned whether the changes could backfire by making districts competitive enough for Democrats to win seats. The bill now heads to the more skeptical state Senate. Voters, as the legal fights continue, will ultimately determine which projections about seat gains hold up.
The redistricting controversy also drew attention beyond legislative chambers. The NAACP called on Black athletes and fans to boycott public university athletic programs in states that have moved to “limit, weaken or erase Black voting representation,” naming Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas, while noting that new voting districts had not yet been enacted in all of those places. Democratic state Rep. John King echoed that call from the House floor, urging Black athletes to attend one of South Carolina’s historically Black colleges.
Debate also reflected the political stakes of the change. During his 10 minutes of allotted speech time, Democratic state Rep. Jermaine Johnson talked about his grandfather—describing a Black soldier in the Army who he said was willing to die for his country but returned to a society where he was “shamed and mistreated because of the color of his skin.” Johnson, who is running for the open governor’s seat, said, “We are far beyond a lot of atrocities that my grandfather faced. But I believe in 2026 we have manifested new ways of keeping people down.”