South Carolina map redraw could imperil 17-term Rep. James Clyburn after Voting Rights Act ruling
South Carolina Republicans are moving to redraw congressional maps after a Supreme Court ruling weakened the Voting Rights Act. The new lines could eliminate the majority-Black district held by 17-term Rep. James Clyburn, who says he will run regardless.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina is moving toward redrawing its congressional map, a process that could eliminate the majority-Black district held by 17-term Rep. James E. Clyburn, one of the most senior Black lawmakers in U.S. history.
The push follows a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that weakened a key section of the Voting Rights Act, the federal law that has long required certain Southern states to preserve majority-Black districts. With that protection diminished, South Carolina becomes the latest Southern state to consider new maps that could reshape the partisan balance of its congressional delegation.
Clyburn, in remarks outside the U.S. Capitol following a Congressional Black Caucus event, said he intends to run regardless of how the lines are drawn. "I don't care where the lines are drawn. I'm going to run. I'm going to run on my record and America's promise," he said.
Claire Wofford, a political science professor at the College of Charleston, said Clyburn remains uniquely positioned in the state. She cited his record of channeling federal funding to South Carolina, his pivotal 2020 endorsement that revived Joe Biden's presidential campaign and his years serving as the No. 3 Democrat in the House. Before Barack Obama's election, she noted, Clyburn was the highest-ranking African American in the history of the U.S. executive or legislative branch.
Still, Wofford said the state's shifting demographics make it unlikely Democrats could hold the redrawn seat on paper. Some Republican strategists in the past have been wary of splitting Clyburn's district, both out of personal respect and out of concern that doing so could create multiple competitive seats. The current effort, she said, reflects a broader national pattern driven by the Trump administration's political priorities rather than local grievances.
Republican state lawmakers are pursuing a map that could deliver all seven of South Carolina's congressional seats to the GOP. More than a dozen Congressional Black Caucus members across the South could see their districts altered in similar redistricting efforts now underway.