“South Carolina citizens are going to the polls today. And neither my conscience or common sense is going to let me stop an election that is already underway.” Republican state Sen. Richard Cash said that on Tuesday, shortly before the South Carolina Senate voted down a redistricting plan that would have drawn U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn out of his seat.
A dozen Republicans joined Democrats to kill the plan that afternoon. It had the backing of President Trump, and Clyburn, who is the only Democrat in the state’s congressional delegation, would have lost the district he has held for decades.
How it got there
Republican Gov. Henry McMaster had called a special session so the legislature could reconsider a plan pushed by the Trump administration. The aim was to pass it in a narrow window before the upcoming primaries. It was one piece of a nationwide push to redraw congressional districts before the November elections.
Opponents answered by urging people to vote. Tuesday was the first day of early voting, and the theory was that the more ballots cast before a decision, the easier it would be to challenge the plan in court if it passed. Voters set a single-day early turnout record by lunchtime.
Clyburn’s response
Clyburn voted early in Orangeburg that morning and then drove to Charlotte, where he spent the evening at First Baptist Church – West promoting his new book with former Charlotte Mayor Harvey Gantt. Speaking to reporters before the event, he welcomed the Senate’s decision and said it would help preserve African-American representation from the state.
“The vote today reflected what South Carolinians would like to see, and that is a constitutional process,” he said. He called the record turnout a sign of the “anger” voters felt over the proposal. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen voters as animated as I saw them today.”
The push came from the Trump administration and not from within South Carolina, Clyburn said, adding that Republicans had told him it frustrated them. “South Carolinians don’t like that too much,” he said.
He predicted that the events would have a “tremendous impact” on his relationship with McMaster, even though the two have worked together in the past.
