(Corrects paragraph 3 to state that the map eliminated one of two Democratic seats, not the lone Democratic seat)
By Joseph Ax
May 12 (Reuters) – A bid to redraw South Carolina’s congressional map and eliminate the state’s sole Democratic U.S. House district failed in the state Senate on Tuesday, when a handful of Republicans broke with President Donald Trump and voted against the effort.
The outcome likely means that U.S. Representative Jim Clyburn, a Black Democrat with broad influence within the party, will retain his seat in November’s midterm elections. Republican Governor Henry McMaster could call a special legislative session to consider redistricting but has thus far resisted the idea.
Separately on Tuesday, the Missouri Supreme Court upheld a Republican-backed map that eliminated one of the state’s two Democratic seats.
The mixed developments underscored how the national redistricting fight shows no sign of flagging, particularly after the U.S. Supreme Court decision last month gave states more leeway to target majority-Black and majority-Latino districts. Republicans are vying to protect their razor-thin U.S. House of Representatives majority in November.
Several Republican-controlled southern states have rushed to take advantage of the court’s decision. Tennessee passed a new map splitting up a majority-Black district, while Louisiana and Alabama postponed their primary elections for the U.S. House of Representatives so Republican lawmakers have time to draw new maps. Black voters typically support Democrats.
Republicans in the South Carolina House of Representatives had advanced a proposal that would have allowed lawmakers to postpone the June 9 primary elections for the U.S. House of Representatives and dismantle the district that Clyburn has represented since 1993.
But the Senate fell two votes shy of the two-thirds majority needed to extend the legislative session in a 29-17 vote. Republicans already control the state’s six other U.S. House districts.
Trump had urged state senators to back the gambit in a social media post on Monday, saying he was “watching closely.”
His words were reminiscent of his threats against some Indiana Republican lawmakers after they declined to draw a new map last year. Trump vowed to back primary challengers to run against them – and six of those seven lawmakers lost to Trump-endorsed candidates last week, underscoring the power of his threats.
In Missouri, the state’s high court rejected Democratic arguments that the map could not take effect until voters had a chance to weigh in, after opponents gathered enough signatures to place the measure on the ballot in November.
The court also found that the map, which splintered the Kansas City area into multiple districts, did not violate the state constitution’s requirement that districts must be compact.
The map is likely to result in Republicans winning all eight of the state’s U.S. House seats in November.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and David Gregorio)
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