Redistricting is the fight of the year as we're getting involved in the 2026 election season; primary elections are already being held across the fruited plain, and the battle lines are being drawn for November. By and large, the redistricting efforts have favored Republicans, but there are some truly baffling exceptions.
One of those is South Carolina, where the state Senate refused to pass a redistricting bill; several Republicans joined Democrats in opposing the measure.
The Republican-led South Carolina Senate on Tuesday voted against a measure to advance a new congressional map, ending the redistricting effort in the state for now.
The failed vote was a surprise rejection of President Donald Trump, who had urged lawmakers to pass a redrawn map that eliminated the state’s single majority-Black district, represented by longtime Democratic Rep. James Clyburn.
The South Carolina House approved the map last week in hopes of putting it into place for this year’s midterm elections. As part of the effort, lawmakers also sought to set another primary election for the affected districts in August. But after early voting began on Tuesday for the previously scheduled June primary, some Republicans changed their tune, arguing it was too late to enact new district lines.
“Neither my conscience nor my common sense will allow me to stop an election that is already underway,” said Republican state Sen. Richard Cash, a Republican who changed his vote due to timing.
There's a reasonable point there; an election that's already taking place could be pretty screwed up by a sudden redistricting, and the lawsuits would doubtlessly be flying hot and heavy in all directions, to the point where safety headgear may be necessary for visitors to the South Carolina Capitol, lest they receive a concussion from being struck in the noggin by a flying summons notice. But, South Carolina, for crying out loud, you've been arguing about this for some time now.
Read More: Wait—What Is Happening With the SC Redistricting Bill?
Redistrict Now: South Carolina Conservatives Battle RINO Holdouts
Several Republican state senators had some things to say about the measure's failure, but this one kind of stands out in the annals of People Who Just Don't Get It:
Republican Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey said at the time that the effort would be short-sighted.
“I believe that our state is stronger with vibrant parties. I think we, as a whole, are stronger when we have a clash of ideas. I think that’s true at the national level. I think it’s true at the state level. We are stronger when we have a clash of ideas and we can discuss those policy goals,” Massey said at the time. “Republicans are stronger when the Democrat Party is vibrant and viable.”
Really? That may have been true forty years ago. Twenty years ago, even. But now? A state is only stronger with two vibrant political parties when both of those political parties feel that the state is stronger with two vibrant parties. The left, Democrats, they haven't felt that way for some time now. They would crush every national, state, and local Republican candidate under their bootsies, given the opportunity. The time for all this "two strong parties, collegial, friends after 5 PM" horse squeeze is past. We're in the ring now, fighting for keeps, and the sooner the old school figures that out, the better.
Look, I used to feel like Senator Massey myself, not all that long ago. I thought, as did a lot of people, that if the opposing sides got together and hammered out a deal, the result would usually be for the best. But I haven't thought that way in a while now. Not anymore. Not since they tried the "OMG RUSSIA" crap to throw the 2016 election. Not since they committed shenanigans all around the country in 2020 to hand the White House to a drooling incompetent and an abrasive, cackling harpy. Not since they hit President Trump with two phony impeachments, and even tried to kill him - three times, and that's just so far.
It's time to fight with bare knuckles. The sooner these South Carolina Republicans get wise, the better.
Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
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