SC House approves congressional map expected to cement Republican advantage
The South Carolina House on Wednesday adopted a controversial congressional map that could cement a 6-1 Republican majority in the U.S. House for years to come.
The map, which is expected to transform the competitive 1st Congressional District into a solidly Republican seat, passed 74-35, along party lines.
The plan flew through the House this week, advancing from a redistricting subcommittee to adoption by the full House in a matter of three days.
It closely resembles South Carolina’s current congressional map and an earlier Senate proposal that Democrats and good government groups criticized for its perceived negative impact on competitiveness and Black communities. A partisan lean analysis using past election data found none of the state’s congressional districts would be particularly competitive under the plan and that the outcomes of all U.S. House races would likely be decided prior to the general election.
The map adopted by the House splits 10 counties and seven voting precincts – two fewer counties and 58 fewer precincts than the existing map. It leaves the currently-split counties of Beaufort, Orangeburg and Newberry whole, but divides Jasper County.
The plan beat out a competing House proposal that would have significantly altered four of South Carolina’s seven congressional districts while retaining the competitiveness of the coastal 1st District, represented by U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-Daniel Island.
That map was scrapped, however, following a barrage of complaints from Beaufort County residents who objected to the county’s inclusion in the inland 2nd Congressional District.
Republican lawmakers said Monday that those concerns weighed heavily in their decision to advance the other plan. The proposal lawmakers adopted Wednesday also benefited from its similarity to the existing congressional map, which some said they believed made it more likely to withstand a legal challenge.
House Democrats criticized the adopted map for cracking Black communities in Charleston and packing them into the 6th Congressional District, represented by House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, to maintain a Republican advantage in the 1st District.
“It is apparent that if you look at the map, that heavily African American areas were placed in Congressional District 6 to ensure that Republicans win six of the seven congressional districts in this state,” state Rep. John King, D-York, said.
State Rep. Jay Jordan, a Florence Republican who chaired the House redistricting subcommittee, disputed allegations that the map was drawn to intentionally dilute the voices of Black voters.
“The allegations of discrimination and harm I heard earlier in the week are simply not supported by the facts or the data,” he said Wednesday. Jordan refuted claims of racial gerrymandering by arguing that the adopted House map actually reduced the black voting age population in the 6th Congressional District by 8 percentage points in comparison to the current map.
He said he understood the concerns expressed about the splitting of Charleston, among other issues, but believed the adopted map improved upon the current map and a similar plan proposed by the Senate redistricting committee.
“When you balanced all the different issues together,” he said. “I felt like this made the most sense.”
Senate releases new congressional proposals
Meanwhile, the Senate redistricting committee, which is in the process of developing its own congressional map, met Thursday to take public testimony on two new plans it unveiled Tuesday afternoon.
One of the plans is a revision of its prior proposal and closely resembles the adopted House map. The other plan represents a major revision to the current congressional map that keeps Charleston County whole and makes the 1st and 5th congressional districts competitive for Democrats.
The Senate redistricting panel took roughly two hours of public testimony on the plans, but did not vote to pass either proposal out of subcommittee. Lowcountry residents provided most of the input, with support split between the status quo map and what many referred to as the “whole county” map, which would keep all of Charleston County in the 1st Congressional District.
Residents of Berkeley and Dorchester counties, many of them elected officials, spoke largely in favor of preserving the status quo, which would keep those counties in the 1st District with Charleston. Beaufort and Charleston County residents, on the other hand, generally supported the whole county map that represents a major redraw of the state’s congressional district lines.
Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, said Wednesday he expected the upper chamber’s map to reach the Senate floor some time next week.
Once each chamber adopts a congressional map, lawmakers will be tasked with converting their respective proposals into a single new map. Barring a legal challenge that results in lawmakers or the courts redrawing such a map, it would set the lines for South Carolina’s U.S. House districts for the next decade.
This story was originally published January 12, 2022 at 5:25 PM.