The South Carolina Senate voted down a last-minute effort Tuesday to redraw the state’s congressional map before this year’s midterm elections.
Senators rejected the proposal backed by President Donald Trump that would have eliminated the state’s only majority-Black congressional district, represented by Rep. James Clyburn.
During a debate Tuesday night among GOP candidates for governor, Rep. Ralph Norman criticized state lawmakers.
“As governor, we will put it back up,” Norman said. “I thought that the General Assembly would never pass it because most of them don’t want it.”
Attorney General Alan Wilson agreed.
“South Carolina is doing the same thing that blue states have been doing for decades,” Wilson said. “If it’s constitutional and it’s lawful, we should be able to do it, and that’s why I supported it this past time.”
Rep. Nancy Mace and businessman Rom Reddy also supported changing the maps during the debate.
Several Senate Republicans joined Democrats in opposing the plan Tuesday, arguing it was too late to make changes with early voting already underway.