A Proposed Map for South Carolina Targets Jim Clyburn’s District

South Carolina Republicans are flirting with redrawing the state’s congressional maps — specifically Rep. Jim Clyburn’s district.

The chairman of the South Carolina Freedom Caucus, state Rep. Jordan Pace, proposed a new congressional map this week that would make Clyburn’s district more conservative.

Pace was explicit in his goals: to make the state’s sole Democratical-held district competitive and pick up an extra Republican seat in the House.

“The way it’s set up, even if there are Democrats who feel like they’re not represented very well by Mr. Clyburn and they want to run in the primary, they have absolutely no hope of anything resembling a successful primary,” Pace said.

Republicans’ national redistricting effort faced a letdown earlier this week when a three-judge federal panel in Texas ruled that the state could not use its new map in 2026 because it racially gerrymandered its districts. State officials plan to appeal. But Republicans are still pursuing new maps in more states.

Pace said he met with the White House last month and that the administration supported his effort. U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, who is seeking the GOP nomination for governor, supports drawing a new congressional map.

Pace’s proposal shifts most of the state’s district boundaries. But Clyburn’s district would undergo the most dramatic change, adopting three counties that President Donald Trump won handily in 2024 and losing four counties that went for former Vice President Kamala Harris. It would also gain two counties won by Harris.

The proposed 6th District would run through the central part of the state, from the North Carolina border down to Charleston.

Clyburn, 85, has not said whether he will run for reelection next year. A spokesperson for Clyburn’s office did not respond to NOTUS’s request for comment.

The National Republican Congressional Committee declined to comment.

“This is just the latest desperate attempt from a flailing White House and Republican party to subvert the will of voters, particularly minority voters, in an effort to preserve their power. Democrats will not stand idly by as Republicans attempt to disenfranchise South Carolinians in their political games,” said Madison Andrus, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Any changes to Clyburn’s district are an attempt to dilute Black voting power, said Antjuan Seawright, a Democratic strategist from South Carolina.

“This effort that some are trying to do in South Carolina is very reflective of what you see some trying to do across the country, and that’s exterminate, eliminate or suffocate Black political representation and Black political influence and power to some degree,” Seawright said.

The current sixth district is 46% Black and was created as a result of Section Two of the Voting Rights Act, which allows for majority-minority districts.

Pace said that racial data was not considered when drawing the new lines.

“It is incompatible with our values that we determine voting districts and assume the way that people are going to vote based on their skin color. That, to me, is outright crazy,” Pace said.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments last month about whether Louisiana placed too much emphasis on race when redrawing its congressional map. The court appeared poised to restrict the use of race in redistricting, which would allow Republican state legislatures to eliminate several majority-minority districts in the South, according to a New York Times analysis.

Seawright is optimistic that the proposed map will not succeed in the legislature. “If I’m doing any betting myself, I can’t see the leadership in South Carolina, particularly those who know the history of our state and have the relationships, wanting to play around with the sixth congressional district and redraw it in any way,” he said.

Pace, however, thinks the legislature “will get something done” if they are called back for a special session. He plans to file legislation in a special session that he’s requested to be scheduled in December.

Pace added that the proposed map is indeed just a proposal. “I’m not actually married to it. It doesn’t have to be the end all be all. It starts the conversation, and it’s a conversation that needs to happen fast.”