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  "path": "/post/210897/12-republicans-break-ranks-donald-trump-south-carolina-redistricting",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-26T18:25:06.000Z",
  "site": "https://newrepublic.com",
  "tags": [
    "Breaking News",
    "Politics",
    "Republican Party",
    "Donald Trump",
    "Gerrymandering",
    "redistricting",
    "partisan gerrymandering",
    "South Carolina",
    "Democratic Party",
    "state legislatures",
    "Midterm Elections",
    "Election 2026",
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  "textContent": "South Carolina has decided not to get involved in President Donald Trump’s redistricting war.\n\nThe state Senate voted 24–20 Tuesday to leave their House districts alone for the upcoming midterm elections. Twelve Republicans broke ranks to join all Democrat state senators in the decision, which will likely save the state’s one blue seat held by Representative James Clyburn.\n\nA few Republican legislators, such as state Senator Richard Cash, changed their votes due to timing. Early voting in South Carolina primaries began on Tuesday.\n\n“Neither my conscience nor my common sense will allow me to stop an election that is already underway,” Cash said.\n\nThe state Senate will now recess until June 10. State primaries take place a day prior, eliminating GOP hopes of gerrymandering before the midterms.\n\nMid-decade redistricting was a rarity until Trump broke precedent in July 2025, when he called on Texas Governor Greg Abbot to redraw his state’s maps in order to benefit Republicans. The dutiful Abbot and Texas’s MAGA majority approved the change, kicking off a gerrymandering war. Republicans got an additional boost in April after the Supreme Court struck down parts of the Voting Rights Act, allowing states to meddle with majority-Black and Latino House districts.\n\nMissouri, Florida, Tennessee, Ohio, and North Carolina have approved maps expected to create new red seats, while California and Utah have done the same on the blue side. Virginia voters approved a Democratic gerrymander before their state Supreme Court overturned it on May 8.\n\nSouth Carolina’s decision is a surprise rebuke to Trump. On May 14, Governor Henry McMaster called a special session to redistrict while under pressure from the Trump administration; it was widely accepted Clyburn’s seat would disappear. Republicans who voted to keep the maps as is may now find Trump endorsing their primary challengers in future elections, as the president continues to rage against anyone who dares advocate for fair elections.\n\n_This story has been updated._",
  "title": "12 Republicans Break Ranks to Stop Trump Stealing More House Seats"
}