South Carolina Republicans just defied Donald Trump to his face and killed his redistricting push.
Trump called the Senate leader personally, posted on social media, and demanded they be bold – they voted no anyway.
What happened the next morning is something Jim Clyburn did not see coming.
The Senate That Told Trump No
Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey had a simple answer for the President of the United States.
"I've got too much resistance in my heritage," Massey said.
Trump had called him multiple times.
Trump posted on social media urging South Carolina senators to "be bold and courageous."
It didn't matter.
The Senate voted 29–17 – two votes short of the two-thirds threshold needed to add redistricting to the legislative agenda.
Massey's stated reason was political math: a 7-0 Republican map could backfire by driving up Black voter turnout and costing Republicans ground down-ballot.
The session ended.
Jim Clyburn – the dean of the South Carolina delegation, in his seat since 1993 – looked safe.
Then the governor picked up his pen.
McMaster Goes Around His Own Senate
Gov. Henry McMaster had stayed out of the fight publicly, telling reporters redistricting was up to the legislature.
He changed course the same night the session ended without action.
McMaster issued an executive order calling the General Assembly back for a special session beginning May 15 – the very next morning.
The target hasn't changed.
Clyburn's 6th Congressional District is roughly 49% Black – a majority-minority seat drawn by a federal court after the 1990 census to guarantee minority representation.
The House map already advanced in committee would redraw his district to favor Trump by 11 points in the 2024 model.
That is not a competitive district.
State Rep. Adam Morgan didn't hide the goal: Republicans want "a new 7-0 Republican map eliminating Jim Clyburn's unconstitutional race-based district."
The Supreme Court Decision That Made This Legal
None of this would be possible without the Supreme Court's 6–3 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais on April 29.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote the majority opinion holding that Louisiana's congressional map was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.
The Court ruled that race cannot drive the mapmaking process – that drawing lines around voters because of their skin color violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
For three decades, the Voting Rights Act was Democrats' legal shield – the tool they used to lock in majority-minority districts and protect incumbents like Clyburn.
Six conservative justices just took it away.
South Carolina Republicans are not eliminating a Black congressman.
They are eliminating a race-based district the Constitution no longer permits.
Trump's Redistricting Wave Is Winning
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a new congressional map that carves up Steve Cohen's majority-Black Memphis district – handing Republicans a path to winning all nine of the state's seats.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey called lawmakers into special session to implement a redrawn map that delivers the GOP an additional House seat.
Louisiana is redrawing its own map after Callais invalidated the district that started the entire legal fight.
Republicans have now enacted new maps in five states, targeting 13 House seats currently held by Democrats.
Meanwhile, the Virginia Supreme Court struck down a Democrat-drawn map that would have handed the left up to four additional seats – erasing the one major Democrat redistricting win of the cycle.
Trump started this fight in Texas, pressured state after state to follow, watched his own party defy him in South Carolina – and still woke up the next morning with a special session aimed straight at the last Democrat standing in a state he owns.
That's what winning looks like.
Sources:
- Joseph Lord, "South Carolina Governor Calls Special Session on Redistricting, Budget," The Epoch Times, May 15, 2026.
- Adam Kincaid and Jason Snead, "Louisiana v. Callais and the Future of Redistricting," American Legislative Exchange Council, May 12, 2026.
- "South Carolina Clears First Hurdle on Path to Gerrymander, Eliminate Black District," Democracy Docket, May 6, 2026.
- "Clyburn District Survives for Now as S.C. Republicans Buck Trump," Bloomberg Government, May 13, 2026.
- "Redistricting Race to the Bottom Ramps Up, as GOP Eyes More States to Draw New House Maps," CNBC, May 7, 2026.
- "Tennessee Republicans Approve Map Carving Up Majority-Black US House District," CNN, May 7, 2026.
