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South Carolina Senate Rejects Redistricting Effort Before Midterms
Confirmed
In Short: South Carolina lawmakers voted against redistricting, while a federal panel blocked Alabama from changing its districts, raising concerns about election integrity.
South Carolina lawmakers dealt President Trump's national redistricting effort a blow when the state Senate voted against redistricting, despite weeks of debate and procedural votes. The decision came as early voting began for the June 9 primary, with some Republican senators citing this as a factor for their opposition.
In a similar move, a federal court temporarily blocked Alabama from changing its districts, preventing a Republican plan to flip a Democratic-held seat. The three-judge panel cited intentional race-based discrimination, stating, 'We cannot see our way clear to requiring Alabamians to cast their votes in the 2026 elections under a districting plan tainted by intentional race-based discrimination.
Republican officials in Alabama have vowed to appeal the decision to the US Supreme Court, while South Carolina's efforts were led by Republican lawmakers who joined Democrats to block the redistricting. Some analysts argue that such efforts risk diminishing the integrity of the elections, but Democrats frame their actions as necessary countermeasures to Republican pushes.
Unlike other southern states that rushed to redistrict, South Carolina's districts did not fall under a recent Supreme Court ruling weakening voting rights for minorities, according to South Carolina Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, who opposed the redistricting plan.
Background
South Carolina is a state in the Southeastern, South Atlantic and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia to the west and south across the Savannah River.
What's confirmed
What's still developing
- A three-judge federal panel blocked Republicans in Alabama from moving forward with a new map that would eliminate one of the state’s two districts with major Black populations.
- “Ultimately, we cannot see our way clear to requiring Alabamians to cast their votes in the 2026 elections under a districting plan tainted by intentional race-based discrimination,” the panel wrote.
- Republican officials in Alabama, which had previously postponed scheduled primary elections for four congressional seats to draw up new maps, have said that they will appeal Tuesday’s decision to the US Supreme Court.
- Several Republican lawmakers in South Carolina separately joined with Democrats to shoot down a new map that would redraw a district held by the powerful Congressman James Clyburn, a Black Democrat who has been in…
- Some analysts have said that such efforts by both parties risk diminishing the integrity of the elections, but Democrats have framed their efforts as a necessary counterweight to the push from Republicans.
- South Carolina lawmakers dealt President Trump's national redistricting effort a blow Tuesday when the state Senate voted against redistricting there after three weeks of rushed hearings and long debate.
- Early voting in the June 9 primary had started Tuesday morning and was one factor some Republican senators cited for opposing the redistricting, which had dragged on through weeks of on-and-off debate.
- A move to bring the bill to a vote failed in the Senate when 12 Republicans joined 12 Democrats on a key procedural vote to block the 26 votes needed to end debate and bring up a vote on the bill.