Here's the Latest on South Carolina's Redistricting Push. It's a Race Against the Clock

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster finally agreed to call a special session to pass redistricting. It would create a 7-0 map, and yes, we still have some panican procedural Republicans, like Shane Massey, the State Senate Majority leader, refusing to support the motion. Luckily, he’s in the minority if this comes to a full vote.

The SC State House Republicans passed the map after it blocked Democratic attempts to run out the clock with a slew of amendments they wanted to add to the bill. It sailed through the South Carolina Senate Judiciary Committee and is now headed to the Senate for debate. That session will be gavelled in at noon today, but we’re on a time crunch. Regardless, we’re moving on this issue (via The State):

NEWS — The South Carolina Senate Judiciary Committee has advanced the proposed 7R–0D congressional map to the Senate floor for a final vote. If approved by the full Senate, the map will head to Gov. Henry McMaster for signature. pic.twitter.com/An5YFgdKqs
— VoteHub (@VoteHub) May 21, 2026

If senators want to follow through with middecade congressional redistricting, the window they have to pass a bill gets smaller and smaller as the current scheduled June 9 primary draws nearer and nearer. “We have to finish this in a very short time frame,”
Rankin said at the start of the meeting. State Sen. Russell Ott, D-Calhoun, questioned why the redistricting process was moving more quickly than the traditional monthslong process. The redistricting that took place after the 2020 census took more than four years, including public hearings around the state, and was subject to litigation.
“Why are we rushing,” Ott said. “What deadline are we under?” Ott added that with no amendments during the committee process would lead to a free-for-all on the Senate floor. “I think it’s our responsibility as a committee to bring something to the floor of the Senate that is a reflection of our work here,”
Ott said. Wednesday’s hearing was set just for public comment, after the state election commission director testified to senators for more than one hour. Members of the state Senate have been told to prepare to be in session on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Monday during the holiday weekend.
The Senate plans to gavel in at noon Thursday.
“We have to recognize our time limitations of time in the circumstances that include our normal scope of review in this process, and so no secret that the governor called us back into a special session,” Rankin said.
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On Wednesday, a Richland County judge tossed a lawsuit from the ACLU and the League of Women Voters against House Speaker Murrell Smith and House Rules Committee Chairman Micah Caskey over how the House chamber’s debate rules were adjusted in order to move the redistricting bill forward.
If the congressional redistricting bill is signed into law, congressional candidate filing opens June 1, less than two weeks away.