May 26, 2026 01:49 PM UTC

Trump Gerrymandering Demands Hit Another Snag

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• by: Colorado Pols

President Trump has spent a good portion of the last year trying to get Republicans across the country to gerrymander House districts in an effort to prevent Democrats from taking majority control of the lower chamber of Congress. That effort has succeeded in some red states (such as Texas), but failed in others (such as Indiana). You can add another ‘L’ to the scoreboard in South Carolina.

As The Associated Press reports:

As early in-person voting began Tuesday in South Carolina’s primaries, the state Senate rejected a Republican plan to cancel those congressional votes and instead schedule a new primary under revised districts designed to help the GOP oust a longtime Democrat.

Some senators said it was simply too late to make a change.

“South Carolina citizens are going to the polls today. And neither my conscience or common sense is going to let me stop an election that is already underway,” Republican state Sen. Richard Cash said.

Trump wanted South Carolina lawmakers to redraw House districts that would have attempted to get rid of longtime Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn. The decision to reject Trump’s demands was probably easier in South Carolina than in other states given that voters were already casting ballots in that state’s Primary election.

In Alabama, meanwhile, Republican Gov. Kay Ivey has already rescheduled four Primary elections for August — keeping two other Primary elections in place (a May 19 election and a June 16 Primary runoff). But a federal court ruling has put that effort on hold. Back to the AP:

In Alabama, a three-judge federal panel issued a preliminary injunction blocking the state from using a Republican-drawn congressional map that could help the GOP win an additional seat. The court said the plan “intentionally discriminated based on race” by including only one Black-majority district, and it ordered the continued use of a court-imposed map that includes two districts with a significant proportion of Black residents.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, a Republican, vowed a quick appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and predicted an eventual victory.

The Supreme Court may well allow these new districts to move forward, given that they have already gutted the Voting Rights Act, but at least a few federal judges are doing the right thing.

As we’ve discussed before, Republicans can’t gerrymander their way out of absolutely brutal polling numbers in time for the 2026 election. The question now is really about how much damage they will do to democracy in the meantime.