Politics
GOP Congressman Calls For Elimination Of All Democrat Districts In His State
U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), who recently announced his gubernatorial campaign, is urging the Palmetto State to hop on board with other Republican-controlled states who have announced redistricting plans ahead of the all important 2026 midterm elections.
During a recent interview, Norman called on the South Carolina General Assembly to redraw its district lines. This, the congressman argued, would be more in line with South Carolina’s Republican majorities in the State House and Senate.
“We have Republican supermajorities in South Carolina. Let’s use them to create more competition in our congressional seats. I have no doubt Republicans can be successful in every part of our state,” Norman told Fox News.
Under his ambitious plan, Norman argued that South Carolina’s congressional races would become “more competitive” and could ultimately “move our House delegation from 6-1 to 7-0.”
“That will help increase Republican control of Congress and help President Trump pass his agenda. Every vote counts toward a conservative Speaker Mike Johnson rather than a liberal Speaker Hakeem Jeffries of New York City,” the congressman said. While Norman did not provide details on what his proposed map will ultimately look like, he did address longtime U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, the state’s lone Democrat congressman, by name.
“Jim Clyburn is a nice man and I respect him. But he is a liberal Democrat who helped put Joe Biden in the White House,” Norman said. “That’s not the kind of representation South Carolina needs.”
Clyburn was a staunch ally of former President Biden and is largely credited with helping him win the Democratic Party primary in 2020, a race that propelled Biden ahead of a crowded field to the point where he never looked back. Clyburn, 85, has represented South Carolina’s Sixth Congressional District since 1993.
The 6th congressional district was first gerrymandered to give black residents greater representation in the early 1990s, resulting in the only majority-black district in the state.
Norman’s push for redistricting comes as a number of Republican-controlled states have announced similar plans. In Texas, Democrats fled the state earlier this week in order to block a vote on a new map that would draw out five Democrat-controlled seats.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton have already started the process of potentially ousting the absent lawmakers, which could lower the required two-thirds present threshold required for a vote. Democrats have fled the state in 2003 and 2021 in efforts to block votes, though both efforts were unsuccessful.
Florida, Missouri and Ohio are also exploring the possibility of redistricting, which could lead to anywhere between five and seven additional Democrat-controlled being written out.
In addition to Republican redistricting efforts, the Supreme Court recently indicated that it will be revisiting a case on the merits of drawing congressional districts on the basis of race. If the high court does indeed eliminate the practice, it could lead to a number of racially gerrymandered districts in the south being eliminated.
