South Carolina’s House advanced a controversial redistricting map amid heated debate.
COLUMBIA, S.C. โ A contentious debate over redistricting in the South Carolina House of Representatives intensified Tuesday and into early Wednesday, as lawmakers voted to advance a map that would change the stateโs Congressional districts.
The House passed the proposal in votes that occurred past midnight Wednesday after hours of debate. It now heads to the South Carolina Senate.
Republican lawmakers moved late Monday to limit amendments, drawing sharp criticism from Democrats who say the changes stifle debate on a consequential issue.
The change came as lawmakers entered their third day of a special session called by Gov. Henry McMaster to address congressional district maps ahead of the upcoming primary elections. Lawmakers face mounting pressure to act quickly, with early voting set to begin May 26 โ an unofficial deadline to adopt new maps, if any are approved.
After more than 600 amendments were filed, House members had addressed only nine over three full days of debate, totaling roughly 20 hours. In response, Republicans passed a resolution capping amendments at one per member and imposing time limits on discussion, reducing the total number of potential amendments to 124.
Rep. Micah Caskey, a Lexington Republican and chairman of the House Rules Committee, defended the move as necessary to keep the legislative process on track.
โWe have been in here since Friday and have made our way through nine amendments so far,โ Caskey said on the House floor.
Democrats, however, argued that the rule change undermines fairness and transparency in a process they say deserves thorough consideration.
โThis is about saving the soul of South Carolina,โ said Rep. Wendell Gilliard, a Charleston Democrat.
House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford of Richland County accused Republicans of shifting the rules mid-debate to limit opposition.
โCheating in the middle of the game is not winning,โ Rutherford said. โNow theyโre giving us three minutes to talk about each amendment, so we donโt have a lot of time.โ
Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, a Democrat from Orangeburg, also criticized the decision, calling it simply โwrong.โ
Some Democrats went further, suggesting outside political pressure influenced the move. Rep. Carl Anderson, a Democrat from Georgetown, claimed President Donald Trump pushed South Carolina Republicans to act.
โHe did not call and ask โ he called and demanded that they pass this redistricting,โ Anderson said.
Republicans largely remained silent on the House floor following the rule change, focusing instead on advancing the debate toward a final vote that could come as soon as Tuesday night.
Any newly approved congressional map would apply only to the U.S. House primaries and would not affect other elections.
Meanwhile, the South Carolina Senate is preparing to take up the issue, with its first redistricting committee hearing scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.
The outcome of the House debate could determine whether new district boundaries are in place before voters begin casting ballots later this month.
This story was originally published by WIS in Columbia, South Carolina.
