The South Carolina House passed a congressional redistricting plan just after midnight Tuesday that would reshape the state’s only Democratic-held U.S. House district to Republicans’ advantage, advancing a map backed by President Donald Trump as part of a broader national effort to protect the GOP’s slim midterm majority.
The vote came after a 14-hour session that included the reading of the full bill text and all Census data underpinning the new map — a process that took more than three hours. Four Republicans voted against the legislation, which was opposed unanimously by House Democrats.
The plan would redraw the state’s congressional districts to give Republicans a path to winning all seven U.S. House seats in the November midterm elections. South Carolina currently sends six Republicans and one Democrat to Congress; the new map targets that lone Democratic-held seat.
State Sen. Luke Rankin, a Republican who supported the bill, argued that the map would ensure South Carolina residents have representatives aligned with the state’s values, according to the Associated Press. He characterized the process as transparent and thorough.
Democrats argued the map was drawn to dilute the voting power of Democratic-leaning constituencies, including Black voters who make up a significant share of the district in question. No Democratic lawmaker voted for the measure.
The bill now heads to the state Senate, where its prospects are less certain. Some Republican senators have questioned whether aggressively reconfiguring the district could backfire — making the new configurations competitive enough for Democrats to gain seats instead of locking in all seven for the GOP.
Sen. Melissa Oremus expressed concerns that aggressive redistricting could backfire by making districts more competitive than intended, as reported by the Associated Press. She warned that lawmakers need to be careful not to overreach.
The South Carolina redistricting push is part of a wave of mid-decade map redrawing by Republican-controlled legislatures across the South, following a Supreme Court ruling that opened the door to new congressional maps without waiting for the next Census cycle. Louisiana and other states have advanced similar plans in recent weeks.
Opponents of the South Carolina plan have signaled they may challenge the map in court, arguing it violates the Voting Rights Act by diminishing the electoral influence of minority voters. The legislation’s path through the Senate is expected to draw close scrutiny from voting rights advocates.