South Carolina primaries could be delayed by GOP’s push to pass new congressional map

SOUTH CAROLINA (WJZY) — Early voting for South Carolina’s June primary begins Tuesday, but a major vote at the Capitol could delay elections for the state’s congressional seats. That is because lawmakers are attempting to approve new maps to redraw the lines of the state’s single Democratic congressional district.

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Republicans, who are trying for the second time in several weeks to pass a new map, say they are exercising their legal power to give themselves a partisan advantage for the 2026 midterms.

US Rep. Jim Clyburn, who represents the state’s sixth congressional district, frames it as an attack on representation and a disenfranchisement of a major voting bloc in the state.

“I don’t know how you decide that a state with 27 percent African Americans deserves zero African Americans in the representation,” Clyburn told MS Now last week.

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State Senators, who went into the weekend debating and discussing the map, now say they plan to hold a final vote on Tuesday morning, the same day that early voting begins for the June 9 primary. If that map passes, primary voting for the state’s seven congressional districts would be removed from the June 9 ballot and delayed until August.

Despite concerns raised by some legislators, GOP lawmakers insist every registered voter will have an opportunity to participate.

“Overseas, military service members who have requested a ballot, by law, by federal law, should receive another ballot,” said Senator Larry Grooms.

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Senators will reconvene at 11 a.m. on Tuesday.