News From South Carolina

The State House Gavel: Trump 'closely' watching whether SC lawmakers act on redistricting in final week

South Carolina Public Radio | By Maayan Schechter,

Published May 12, 2026 at 6:01 AM EDT

Democratic South Carolina Rep. Justin Bamberg, right, speaks to people against a redistricting proposal at the South Carolina Statehouse on Friday, May 8, 2026, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

It's Tuesday, May 12.

Welcome to Week 18 of the South Carolina legislative session.

It's the final legislative week on the Statehouse calendar before sine die, the last official day of work, strikes 5 o'clock Thursday.

Both chambers gavel in at noon for the first of three working days, and all eyes will be watching whether lawmakers make a return post-sine die return — and for what.

You're reading The State House Gavel, your daily reporter notebook by Maayan Schechter and Gavin Jackson that previews and captures what goes on at the South Carolina Statehouse.

Two reminders:

Voter registration ended Monday for anyone who planned to cast a ballot in the statewide June 9 primaries. The state's two weeks of early voting starts May 26 and ends June 5.
Gov. Henry McMaster will join other state leaders as they break ground at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday on the Statehouse complex (almost across from the visitor's entrance) for the coming Robert Smalls statue. The bipartisan commission tasked with finding an artist (Basil Watson) and location for the lawmaker, congressman and Civil War hero are aiming to raise up to $2 million. You can find more information here.

Notebook highlights:

This is the week when the legislature must decide whether it plans, or even discuss, post-sine die whether to undergo mid-decade redistricting. Where the debate stands in South Carolina and what President Donald Trump is saying. Plus, what else we're watching
The governor's race ramps up with a new poll and new interviews with candidates vying to be the state's next CEO

Reporters Maayan Schechter and Gavin Jackson, host of This Week in South Carolina and the SC Lede podcast.

The deadline to decide redistricting

Sine die week is always chaotic in the Statehouse.

Lawmakers are dashing between chambers, sometimes literally, hoping to get their priority legislation to the finish line before the clock shuts down the process.

Now add a politically charged debate over whether the Republican-controlled General Assembly will decide to put a congressional map redraw on the list of what lawmakers can discuss when they return after May 14.

The question of whether they take up the mid-decade redistricting effort to draw South Carolina's all seven congressional seats to favor the GOP is still uncertain, despite significant White House pressure.

For the first time publicly, President Donald Trump weighed in on South Carolina's redistricting efforts by putting particular pressure on the Senate and calling on lawmakers to solely move the congressional race primaries to another month.

Here's where the debate stands in the Palmetto State.

Let's start with the upper chamber.

The Senate is expected to vote today whether to agree with the House and take up mid-decade redistricting in a post-sine die special session.

The vote was delayed last week after Senate Republicans argued they needed to see a physical proposed map before rushing to a decision.

That map was released throughout both chambers, with some legislators lining up to endorse the idea while others put the question and the map to their respective social media pages for constituent support.

To pass the amended sine die agreement — S. 883, which also includes the budget, conference reports, vetoes and appointments — like the House, the Senate must have a higher two-thirds threshold approval to move it.

ICYMI: Hear from Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, an Edgefield Republican, who said he still has reservations about opening up a special session for redistricting.

S.C. Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, speaks on redistricting efforts 5.7.26

Now onto the House.

Within days — or hours — last week, the House moved forward on developing two key pieces of legislation that could be used should the legislature undergo redistricting.

A House Judiciary subcommittee will meet first thing Tuesday morning on H. 5683, sponsored by freshman Laurens Republican Rep. Luke Rankin, which will be the legislation that draws the proposed map's lines.

This will be the second meeting of the subcommittee led by Florence Republican Rep. Jay Jordan, whose panel held off last Thursday on advancing the map to give lawmakers time to review the lines.

That same subcommittee did, however, approve advancing Rankin's H. 5684, a proposal that would move all seven of South Carolina's U.S. House races to an Aug. 11 primary election, with an Aug. 25 runoff, if necessary, to follow.

Candidate filing for all seven seats would also reopen, scheduled under the proposal between June 8 to June 15.

Both measures will be up for a full House Judiciary Committee vote at 10:30 a.m., or right after the subcommittee adjourns.

More than 3.3 million South Carolinians are registered to vote.

As of Friday, 6,827 absentee ballots had been mailed already ahead of the June 9 state primary elections.

Of that total, 260 ballots had already been returned, according to the State Election Commission.

Newly confirmed State Election Commission Director Conway Belangia told lawmakers last week that even if the legislature tweaks the congressional primary election schedule, those races will still appear on the June ballots because they've already been printed.

"No way around that," he said.

The cost to move and hold the primaries in August?

More than $2 million, Belangia said.

Missed the hearing? Catch it in its entirety below:

What else are we watching this week?

A joint House and Senate conference committee will meet at 10:30 a.m. to discuss a negotiated S. 831, legislation sponsored by Senate Transportation Chairman Larry Grooms, R-Berkeley.

The legislation reorganizes the state transportation department, aiming to also ease congestion in parts of the state and speed up infrastructure construction.

The House removed some of the biggest pain points for the lower chamber when it debated and passed the bill last month.

It included removing a raise to electric car fees, and stripping out a measure incentivizing counties to take back state-owned non-essential roads.

The House did add language to abolish the DOT commission, what we were told was a key point of contention between both sides.

Read more:

The State: 6 or 7 Republicans? Would SC be better off with at least 1 Democrat in Congress?
SC Daily Gazette: SC House panel approves 2-month delay in congressional primary amid redistricting push
Post and Courier: Congressional map redraw could create unexpected do-over for candidates
Greenville News: SC legislature considers moving congressional primary date which could cost $2M
The State: Pushing back SC primaries is possible, but difficult, state election director says

Stickers handed out during a Friday, May 8, 2026, S.C. House Judiciary subcommittee meeting over redistricting.

Latest in SC gov race

There are fewer than 30 days until South Carolinians will cast their ballots to help decide who will succeed Gov. Henry McMaster.

And with the election so close, more polls are starting to drop in the Republican race for governor, split between six challengers.

In one example, a new poll out last week from the Republican-leaning Trafalgar Group of likely Republican primary voters put Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette in the lead of the field of six at 25%.

Evette is followed by Attorney General Alan Wilson within the 3% margin of error at 23%, and 5th District Congressman Ralph Norman followed at 20%.

Norman had surged past 1st District Congresswoman Nancy Mace since Trafalgar’s last January poll.

Mace sat in fourth at 15%, 5 points ahead of Lowcountry businessman Rom Reddy, who jumped in the race in mid-March.

Spartanburg Sen. Josh Kimbrell came in at 4%, just above Jacqueline DuBose — DuBose was disqualified for failing to pay her filing fee but will still show up on the June ballot — at 3%.

The poll surveyed 1,089 voters between May 2-5, following news coverage and reaction after Evette's commencement speaking invitation was rescinded by S.C. State University and after the recent public push for states that include South Carolina to redraw its congressional map.

And a TWISC episode update.

Continuing our conversations with candidates, "This Week in South Carolina" host Gavin Jackson spoke with Republican candidate Reddy and Upstate businessman Billy Webster, who is running for the Democratic nomination, to talk about their backgrounds and their separate visions for South Carolina.

Reddy — the businessman became more well known as his legal battles with the state's environmental agency played out publicly over a seawall he built outside his Isle of Palms home — has vowed to make state agencies more efficient and effective as part of his bid.

In particular, Reddy, who with his wife run a foundation for children, has lately griped about the state child welfare agency.

"Unelected bureaucrats are running our lives. This is what our founders are prepared to die for," Reddy told Jackson in part. "We somehow lost the courage and the determination to protect ourselves against it."

And Webster, a Greenville native who has worked in and around state and federal politics, told Jackson he knows the challenges any Democrat running in South Carolina has.

A Democrat has not won the governor's office since Jim Hodges in the late 90s.

"I am a moderate. I watched (former Democratic Gov.) Dick Riley govern as a moderate. I watched Jim Hodges govern as a moderate. Bill Clinton was the quintessential moderate. And they understood the art of governing as opposed to politics," Webster said. "I think one of the real reasons I decided to run was the loss of civility in public life. It’s not the way I was raised. It's not the way I was taught. It's not what scripture teaches us."

You can catch that episode and their full remarks below: