Clyburn's district stays intact as South Carolina Republicans scrap redistricting

Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., announces his intent to seek an 18th U.S. House term, during a March 12 event at the South Carolina Democratic Party headquarters in Columbia, S.C. Meg Kinnard/AP hide caption

The majority-Black district held for 34 years by South Carolina Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn will survive intact, for now, after Republican state lawmakers rejected a plan to redraw congressional maps.

South Carolina was the latest Southern state attempting to redraw district lines after the U.S. Supreme Court weakened a key section of the Voting Rights Act that protected majority-Black districts.

The proposed map backed by President Trump, which state senators declined to advance on Tuesday , would have targeted Clyburn, the lone Democrat in South Carolina's congressional delegation and an institution in state and national politics.

"We have someone in the White House that wants Republicans to ignore the Constitutional principles for which this current map was drawn," Clyburn wrote on X . "A critical number of Republicans did not believe in putting a man over the law. Today, members of the South Carolina State Senate stood up for the constitutional principles that they say they believe in."

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Clyburn had pledged to seek another term, regardless of the map. State officials said House primaries would have been delayed if the legislature redrew the lines.

Clyburn voted in Orangeburg on Tuesday, the first day of early voting for the state's June primary. The beginning of early voting was on the minds of some state lawmakers in the state capitol, as they debated redistricting.

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

That is one reason some Republicans cited for punting on a plan to push through a new map, at least this year.

Claire Wofford, a College of Charleston political science professor, says it is likely not the only one.

"It's hard to overstate the significance of Jim Clyburn in the state," Wofford says. "It's a cliche, but he's basically a living legend."

Wofford says Clyburn has directed hundreds of millions of federal dollars to South Carolina. His endorsement resurrected Joe Biden's presidential campaign ahead of the 2020 South Carolina primary, and for years Clyburn served as the No. 3 Democrat in Congress.

"And before Barack Obama came along, he was the highest-ranking African American ever in United States history in the legislative or executive branch," Wofford says.

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Many Republicans see Clyburn as collegial and effective. Wofford said the fact that South Carolina came so close to squeezing him out does not reflect animosity toward Clyburn, but simply Trump's grip on the GOP. Wofford says South Carolina is known for having an independent streak, prompting some South Carolina Republicans to reject outside political operatives trying to interfere in the state.

"You can trace it back to the fact that this state was the first state to secede from the union," she says. "And I feel like South Carolina has always felt itself a little bit immune from national pressure."

Some South Carolina Republicans also feared splitting up Clyburn's majority-Black seat could result in multiple competitive districts in what is known as a "dummymander."

Wofford says the state's evolving demographics make that less likely, as many counties in and around Clyburn's district have seen the Black population fall and Republican-voting transplants move in. Over the years, Clyburn has been accused of using his influence with Republicans to keep his seat safe as the electorate shifted.

Sometimes referred to as an "unholy alliance," Republicans and elected Black Democrats have both benefitted from maps that packed Black voters into majority-Black districts. In the second half of the 20th century, these lines helped Republicans establish a foothold in what had been the solidly Democratic South.

"What it's done is ensure minority representation in cases where you might otherwise not have it," Wofford says. "You've also ensured Republican control in the remaining parts of the state."

"District lines aren't just borders on a map"

South Carolina's population is more than a quarter Black, and top Republican state lawmakers pushed to approve a new map that could give their party all seven congressional seats.

During public testimony at the state capitol last week, local GOP activist Chad Caton said it's just politics.

"Here in South Carolina, we have a supermajority as Republicans," he told lawmakers. "And sometimes when you win the game, you get to spike the football."

For Maya Shells, who has lived in Clyburn's district her whole life, redistricting was personal.

"District lines aren't just borders on a map, but they really represent our voice and our ability to advocate for the needs of our community," she told senators.

For 17 terms, the 6th District has chosen Clyburn to be that voice.

"I don't care where the lines are drawn, I'm going to run," Clyburn said in an interview outside the U.S. Capitol last week. "I'm going to run on my record and America's promise. And I think the majority of people in the congressional district will relate to that."

Clyburn thinks back to his political hero

Wearing his trademark quarter-zip sweater under a suit jacket despite the sweltering weather, Clyburn had just finished a press conference with the Congressional Black Caucus, of which he has been a member for more than three decades.

More than a dozen CBC members could see their seats eliminated in the coming years because of redistricting. Clyburn would be the most prominent.

While many of his octogenarian contemporaries in Congress, like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, have opted to retire after this year, Clyburn decided to run again at age 85. Recognizing that his career could end in involuntary retirement because of redistricting, Clyburn said last week that he has been thinking about his political hero, Robert Smalls .

Smalls was among the first eight Black members of Congress ever elected from South Carolina following the Civil War. Those men left as Reconstruction ended and Jim Crow restrictions and racial violence reversed gains in Black representation.

It was nearly 100 years before Clyburn, who wrote a book about the original eight, became the ninth Black South Carolinian to serve. He says Smalls was ousted in part by gerrymandering.

"His political life came to an end in pretty much the same way," Clyburn said last week. "I'll be in pretty good company if that were to happen. [In July] I will celebrate the 47th anniversary of my 39th birthday. That adds up to 86 years. That's a pretty good life."

Later this week, Clyburn will host his annual fish fry. Like Clyburn, the event has become a fixture of South Carolina politics and is set to go on.