The South Carolina state Senate on Tuesday rejected a proposal to extend their legislative session, making it appear unlikely the state will redraw its House map ahead of the November elections.
Five Republican state senators joined all Democrats in voting against a sine die agreement that would have allowed the chamber to consider redistricting after the legislative session ends this week.
While Tuesday’s vote doesn’t completely take redistricting off the table in the Palmetto State, it makes it less likely, at least for this year.
President Donald Trump had urged Republican state senators to delay the state’s primaries for the House until August in order to draw a new map.
“I’m watching closely,” Trump had said of the Tuesday vote.
South Carolina would have joined several other Southern states that have sought to revisit their House maps in recent weeks after the Supreme Court invalidated Louisiana’s House map and weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act late last month.
The renewed redistricting push follows efforts by both parties since last summer to redraw maps in several states as a way to seek an advantage in the tight contest for control of the House this fall.
Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, who is term-limited in the role this year, had said he would leave it up to the legislature whether to redistrict.
Shane Massey, the state Senate majority leader, warned against eliminating the state’s sole Democratic-leaning district, which is currently held by longtime Rep. James E. Clyburn. The six other members of the state’s House delegation are Republicans.
“Trying to go to 7-0, I think, is extremely risky from a political standpoint,” Massey, a Republican, said Tuesday during debate. “At best you’re going to get 6-1 and you may even go 5-2.”
While Republicans in several states have heeded Trump’s push to redistrict, South Carolina isn’t alone in resisting the call.
Still, several Indiana state senators who opposed Trump’s push for redistricting in that state last year lost their primary bids to Trump-backed challengers last week.
