Administration

Trump tells SC Republicans to be ‘bold and courageous’ ahead of vote on redistricting

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by Ashleigh Fields - 05/11/26 11:19 PM ET

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by Ashleigh Fields - 05/11/26 11:19 PM ET

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President Trump on Monday encouraged South Carolina Republicans to be “bold” and “courageous” ahead of a vote on redistricting after Tennessee Republicans approved a new map that threatens to unseat the state’s lone House Democrat.

“South Carolina Republicans: BE BOLD AND COURAGEOUS, just like the Republicans of the Great State of Tennessee were last week! Move the U.S. House Primaries to August, leave the rest on the same schedule,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

“Everything will be fine. GET IT DONE,” he added.

State lawmakers in the South Carolina House are scheduled to discuss redistricting on Tuesday during a meeting of the Constitutional Laws subcommittee and could bring the measure to the floor for a vote as soon as this week.

The measure must clear the lower chamber and the state Senate, where lawmakers have not yet determined whether it will consider redistricting, amid a ticking timeline as the regular session ends on May 14.

If South Carolina lawmakers approve new maps, the congressional primaries would be moved from June 9 to Aug. 11. That date coincides with the first day of school in multiple counties in the state, which could jeopardize the polling sites traditionally used.

If lines are redrawn, candidates who have already begun campaigning in the current congressional districts have raised concerns with the transfer of campaign funds to back canvassing efforts under a newly drawn map.

“It’s sort of late in the game. Is it too late? I don’t know. I think the Trump people believe that the new map can lead to a pick up and it won’t jeopardize seats,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said during a campaign event on May 8, per The Post and Courier.

Trump has strongly supported redistricting in red states nationwide in hopes of maintaining the party majority in both the House and the Senate.

Efforts to redraw congressional lines in South Carolina are likely to result in Rep. Jim Clyburn’s (D-S.C.) forcible exit from office after five years as the only Democrat in the Palmetto State’s congressional delegation. He represents the sixth district, created to protect minority voting power as authorized under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which took a blow from the Supreme Court ruling earlier this month.

“Republicans are trying to break apart South Carolina’s 6th District. Not because voters demanded it, but because Donald Trump requested it,” Clyburn said of redistricting efforts, adding that “we cannot let them succeed.”

If South Carolina’s congressional maps are redrawn, more than 5,000 absentee ballots for the upcoming primaries would also need to be discarded, according to The Post and Courier.

While some have raised concerns, others say they support Trump’s efforts to keep the GOP majority in Congress.

“If we don’t keep a majority, our country is going to be in a perpetual, endless impeachment,” Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) told The Post and Courier.

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