A national push by Republicans to gerrymander 17-term Democratic Rep. James Clyburn out of his U.S. House seat failed in the South Carolina Senate Tuesday when five GOP senators defied President Donald Trump and voted to kill the plan.
The vote, which fell two votes shy of the two-thirds majority needed for passage, would have authorized a special legislative session after May 14 to draw new district maps and move next month’s congressional primaries to August. The S.C. House passed the authorization in an 87-25 party-line vote on May 6.
As of press time Wednesday, it was unclear whether the legislature would pass a resolution to come back into session to deal with the state budget and other unfinished business. If lawmakers don’t take that step, Gov. Henry McMaster could call them back into session to pass a budget. If he did that, the legislature could then take up any other measure it wanted – including a reconsideration of redistricting. But if a special session was delayed until after the June primaries, the redistricting issue might become moot.
The vote came after a furious week of GOP infighting that pitted Trump and an insistent army of Republican social media influencers against S.C. Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, who has argued that carving up Clyburn’s 6th district would put the party’s current 6-1 U.S. House majority for S.C. congressional districts at risk.
“I think if you try to get 7-0, you’re more likely to get 5-2,” Massey said last week, noting that it could also hurt GOP downballot candidates. “Trying to get cute with this is more likely to cause a problem than be beneficial.”
Massey reiterated those points in an impassioned 45-minute floor speech prior to Tuesday’s vote, while making it clear that his concerns didn’t stop there.
In particular, Massey took issue with supporters’ claims that dismembering Clyburn’s district is legally required in light of last month’s U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down two majority-minority districts in Louisiana as illegal racial gerrymanders.
“Our districts are perfectly constitutional,” he said, noting that due to population changes, the 6th is no longer a minority-majority district — and that the same U.S. Supreme Court explicitly approved the state’s current map as a “political,” not “racial,” gerrymander in 2024.
Beyond that, he argued that it was too late in the game to change the lines for this year’s races, saying it would be wrong to throw out the primary election ballots that have already been cast by U.S. service members serving overseas.
“That’s tough for me,” he said.
What’s more, he contended, it would be counterproductive for Republicans to use their supermajorities in the S.C. House and Senate to suppress any Democratic representation in the state — a move he said would likely backfire by angering “people in the middle.”
“Crushing the minority opposition is not a demonstration of strength, it’s an admission of fear,” he said. “And that is especially the case here, where that minority voice consistently represents 40 to 45% of the electorate.”
He added, “We need to use the power we’ve been entrusted with in a legitimate manner.”
About an hour later, after a pair of potential amendments were defeated, four additional Republicans — Sens. Sean Bennett of Dorchester County, Chip Campsen of Charleston County, Tom Davis of Beaufort County and Greg Hembree of Horry County — joined Massey and all of the chamber’s 12 Democrats to defeat the bill in a 29-17 vote.
Gerrymandering or ‘dummymandering’?
The S.C. redistricting fight isn’t happening in a vacuum.
It’s part of a national wave of mid-decade gerrymandering fights that’s so far seen eight states redraw their lines in front of the 2026 midterm elections, where Trump and the GOP are fighting to preserve a slim Republican majority in the U.S. House.
That’s why Trump has been directly involved in the S.C. effort, speaking twice with Massey in the past week, according to the senator, who called their conversations “gracious.”
It’s also why Republican leaders, including leading gubernatorial candidates like Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, S.C. Attorney GeneralAlan Wilson and U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, said yesterday the S.C. battle isn’t over.
“We still have a path forward to get redistricting done this year, but only if grassroots conservatives make their voices heard NOW,” State GOP Chairman Drew McKissick said in a statement after the vote.
But Palmetto State Democratic operatives who’ve run races under the current state map say Massey’s right to worry about the numbers.
In fact, they say, the White House-supported map that’s picking up support among Republicans in the S.C. House would create three competitive districts — the 1st, 2nd and 6th — in a good Democratic year.
“This is an extreme overreach by the Republicans,” said Charleston-based Democratic consultant Lachlan McIntosh. “They’re heading into the worst political environment they’ve seen in a generation, and this map would create three very, very competitive districts.”
He added, “They know this is a bad plan for them. But they’re willing to sacrifice their political power just so Daddy Trump won’t yell at them.”
That’s a concern would-be gerrymanderers would do well to take seriously, according to Winthrop political scientist Scott Huffmon, who said that parties have been known to shoot themselves in the foot with unwise redistricting in the past.
“It’s not my term, but when you attempt a gerrymander that backfires, it’s called ‘dummymandering,’” Huffmon said. “And not denigrate anyone, but there’s a darn good chance that one or more of those new Texas districts wind up being dummymanders.”
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