Trump-backed redistricting plan is rejected in the South Carolina Legislature

Maps for new congressional districts in South Carolina are shown in the South Carolina Senate antechamber on Friday. Jeffrey Collins/AP

Jeffrey Collins/AP

South Carolina lawmakers dealt President Trump's national redistricting effort a blow Tuesday when the state Senate voted against redistricting there after three weeks of rushed hearings and long debate.

Trump had been pushing state Republicans to redraw voting lines so they could flip a seat currently held by Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn. It would have made all the state's seven congressional districts lean Republican and it would have extended the GOP lead in the national redistricting race, already netting them around nine more seats in the U.S. House.

Early voting in the June 9 primary had started Tuesday morning and was one factor some Republican senators cited for opposing the redistricting, which had dragged on through weeks of on-and-off debate.

A move to bring the bill to a vote failed in the Senate when 12 Republicans joined 12 Democrats on a key procedural vote to block the 26 votes needed to end debate and bring up a vote on the bill. A second procedural vote fell even more short.

The state senate is not up for election this year

Several Republicans moved to the opposition saying that changing the map could disenfranchise some voters. Around 26,000 cast ballots within the first several hours of polls opening, putting Tuesday on track to break early primary voting records.

Republican state Sen. Richard Cash echoed that concern from the floor Tuesday and said time had run out.

"Voting has begun, it is time to conclude the matter," Cash said. "I know there's going to be a lot of anger and frustration that we did not get the job done. I get it. Many of us are also frustrated and disappointed at what is a very unsatisfying outcome."

Unlike members of the House, senators are not up for reelection this year and that could give them some insulation from pressure from Trump, who generated primary challenges against Republicans elsewhere for opposing redistricting.

Earlier Tuesday, Clyburn cast his ballot early in Orangeburg, a city 45 miles southeast of Columbia, and told reporters he was set to run in whatever district they draw him into. "I am embarrassed that so many people in our legislature will allow strangers in Washington to tell them what to do, when to do it, and how to do it," Clyburn said.

Trump and Republicans still hold an advantage in the redistricting battle

Overall, Trump and the Republicans have gained in the unprecedented, mid-decade redistricting push he started. Republicans hold just a few-seats advantage in the House and the party in the White House usually loses seats in midterms. Usually, states redistrict at the start of the decade after the census count.

Redistricting across the country has given Republicans an advantage in about 15 more seats to the Democrats' six That would net the Republicans about nine seats, while some court challenges remain that could alter that figure.

Trump got Texas Republicans to redistrict last summer. California Democrats, backed by a public vote, countered that. But since then it's been mostly Republicans' gains as they control more legislatures and many Democratic-led states are constrained by laws against gerrymandering.

South Carolina Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, who fielded several calls from Trump, was one of those Republicans opposing the redistricting. He said that unlike other southern states that rushed to redistrict, South Carolina's districts did not fall under a recent Supreme Court ruling weakening voting rights for minorities.

Also on Tuesday, a federal court temporarily blocked the redistricting plan Alabama lawmakers had approved to flip a Democratic-held seat there. The court ruling is expected to be challenged at the U.S. Supreme Court,which has earlier backed the redistricting plan.