South Carolina governor calls for a special session on redistricting

2026 ElectionSouth Carolina governor calls for a special session on redistrictingRepublicans hope to eliminate a majority-minority seat held by longtime Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn before the midterms.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Republican South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster had initially decided not to call a special session.Jeffrey Collins / APShareAdd NBC News to GoogleMay 14, 2026, 5:55 PM EDTBy Jane C. TimmSouth Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster called a special session on Thursday for state lawmakers to tackle redistricting ahead of the midterm elections.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.A new map is expected to eliminate a the state’s only majority-minority district, which is held by Rep. Jim Clyburn, a key Democratic powerbroker.“I have issued an Executive Order calling the General Assembly back for an extra legislative session to address the state budget and congressional districts,” McMaster said Thursday evening in a post on X. He said the special session would begin Friday morning.McMaster initially chose not to set a special session, but changed course after the Republican-led state Senate rejected a measure earlier this week to extend their current session to take up a redrawn map, despite pressure from President Donald Trump.South Carolina is one of a spate of southern states rushing to redraw their maps to create more Republican-leaning seats after the U.S. Supreme Court gutted Voting Rights Act protections against racial gerrymandering in a major ruling last month.Since then, Tennessee enacted a new map that carves up the state’s lone majority-Black district, represented by Rep. Steve Cohen. The Supreme Court cleared the way for Alabama to implement a map with one less majority-minority district than it has now. And on Thursday, the Louisiana Senate passed a map that targets one of the state’s two Democratic-held seats.In a post on Truth Social on Monday, Trump urged...