South Carolina Republicans Defy Trump By Rejecting New Redistricting Scheme

While Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry (R) had no problem canceling an election to redraw districts ahead of the 2016 midterms, even after thousands of votes had been cast, South Carolina Republicans in the state Senate chose a different path, defying Donald Trump’s redistricting scheme.

After the Supreme Court gutted what was left of the Voting Rights Act, Trump urged red states to move quickly to redraw their districts to hand Republicans more potential seats in Congress to minimize the losses they are predicted to suffer, which would cost them the House and possibly the Senate.

Southern states have been especially eager to follow Trump’s directive because they are still racist and desire to reduce the power of black voters and eliminate black representation. It happened in Louisiana, where Landry canceled an election that had been in progress so Republicans could redraw the districts.

Alabama has followed suit, although the courts have recently blocked its redistricting effort for being discriminatory. The racism is pretty obvious in Alabama, since the GOP statehouse Speaker has called for the Supreme Court to “overturn” the 14th Amendment.

South Carolina was also poised to redraw their congressional districts to eliminate the seat currently held by Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), who represents a majority-black district. The move would effectively eliminate the state’s last Democratic stronghold.

However, despite Republican support for the plan, Republicans in the state Senate are rejecting it because in-person voting has already begun.

“I can no longer support the passage of this bill for one simple reason: South Carolina citizens are going to the polls today,” conservative GOP state Senator Richard Cash said in a statement. “Neither my conscience nor common sense will allow me to stop an election that has already begun.”

Any hope Trump had of gaining a Republican House seat from South Carolina is over. The state will likely pursue redistricting again after the election.

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