It's Wednesday, May 13.
That means, counting today, there are two more days left on the official South Carolina legislative calendar until 5 o'clock strikes on Thursday, otherwise known as sine die.
There is still no sine die agreement, an outlines for lawmakers over what they can take up post-May 14. We get into why below.
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.
Notebook highlights:
- Senate rejects effort to open special session up to consider redrawing congressional maps as House pushes bill forward to delay U.S. House primaries
- Legislators strike agreement over infrastructure roads bill
Senate rejects special session redistricting effort
The South Carolina Senate failed on Tuesday to reach the necessary two-thirds vote to agree with House changes made to the sine die resolution that would have allowed lawmakers to take up congressional redistricting after session ends Thursday.
That means the effort pushed by White House allies and President Donald Trump is nearly dead for the year amid the rushed redistricting debate with one more day left on the calendar.
The dramatic 29-17 vote — five Republican senators joined the 12 Democrats — came after hours of passionate floor speeches, including from one of the top Republicans in the upper chamber.
The five Republicans were:
- Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey of Edgefield County
- Sen. Chip Campsen of Charleston County
- Sen. Tom Davis of Beaufort County
- Sen. Sean. Bennett of Dorchester County
- Sen. Greg Hembree of Horry County
The vote was a rare rebuke from a southern state as others have acquiesced to pressure from Trump to help shore up Republican seats in Congress.
"My conscience is clear on this one," Massey told his colleagues Tuesday, noting the choice to oppose the mid-decade redistricting effort wasn't "hard" for him.
"I have too much southern blood in me to surrender," he said.
"Very likely we will end up in federal court. We will also end up in state (Supreme) court as well" over the map, Campsen also warned his colleagues before the vote. "(Justices John) Kittredge and (Gary) Hill gave us that forewarning if you will."
For days up until the vote, some Republican senators had cited several reasons for souring on redrawing the map, a proposal only passed out throughout the legislature the end of last week.
For starters, 8,247 absentee ballots have already been printed and shipped overseas. To date, the State Election Commission says 354 have been returned.
The statewide primaries are June 9. Early voting opens May 26.
Massey also argued the map could very well make it more competitive for Democrats, when currently they only represent one — the seat is held by Democratic Congressman Jim Clyburn — of seven House districts.
The proposed map, Massey also said Tuesday, "blows up" communities of interest in areas like Fort Mill in York County and Lancaster County, pulling the latter completely out of the 5th District, and in parts of the Charleston area and Myrtle Beach, merged in a redrawn district.
It could also motivate turnout that could hurt down ballot races, from the Statehouse to county council, Massey said.
Lastly, senators noted South Carolina's map was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court as a partisan gerrymander, not a racial gerrymander under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act like Louisiana's that spurred pressure for southern states to act.
"We are not Louisiana. We are not Alabama. We are not Mississippi," Massey said. "Our map is not unconstitutional. The Louisiana v. Callais opinion does not apply to South Carolina, because South Carolina does not have a Section 2 district."
The Senate vote means, without some herculean-like maneuver, there will be no separate congressional primaries or new map — both of which included in one proposal, H. 5683, advanced the same day by the House Judiciary Committee.
Under the bill, the Judiciary Committee voted to further delay the congressional primaries to Aug. 18, with runoffs on Sept. 1.
Filing would also reopen June 1 to June 5, less than a month away.
As the chamber's GOP leader, Massey has come under intense pressure to help push through a map that would redraw the state's House districts to lean all seven seats toward the GOP.
Trump himself called Massey twice and asked him to act.
Referring to the calls with Trump a "privilege," Massey said the conversations were good, and the president told the Edgefield Republican he understood Massey would have to do with what he was comfortable with and do "what is right," Massey recalled.
Massey told reporters he had shared his concerns with Trump.
Trump, Massey said, called Democrats in Washington "crazy."
"Yes, sir, I agree with you," Massey said he told Trump. "He told me, 'These people hate me.' And I think Mr. President that's obvious. There's no question about it. There is a lot of hatred in Washington, a lot of hatred in the world. And he's certainly the recipient of a lot of that. There's no question there. The president doesn't want the Democrats to win the majority in the House of Representatives. I don't either. I would hope that the home team can retain the majority, and I would also hope if the home team retains (the House), they'll do something productive with it."
"If Democrats do win" the House, Massey added, "it will not be because of South Carolina."
Massey later told reporters numbers touted by some Republicans, including the National Republican Redistricting Trust which drew the proposed map, were "deliberately disingenuous."
"Those are the numbers that President Trump received in those districts in 2024, and 2024 was the best year for Republicans, at least since 1984, when Reagan swept 48 states,” Massey said. "Frankly, it's probably the best number for Republicans in South Carolina since the 1860s. There is no other candidate that's going to go plus 11 in District 6. Those numbers are misleading. I mean, the Sixth District, at best, is it like 51 under their drawing. And I think that's questionable. But the numbers that have been passed around, like every district, is at least a Republican plus 11. That's just not reality."
You can watch Massey's full floor remarks below:
So, what happens now?
Gov. Henry McMaster, whose office said last week he did not anticipate calling the legislature back for a special session and who said he wasn't planning to pressure lawmakers, said the General Assembly still has two full days to do something.
"The General Assembly still has two full days in which to finish its important work, including giving full consideration — as sought by the people — to the important question of redistricting," he said. "I urge the General Assembly to finish its work according to the U.S. and South Carolina constitutions and the best interests of the people."
But even if the House advances the map and primary changes to the Senate before 5 o'clock Thursday, Senate Judiciary Chairman Luke Rankin, R-Horry, said he would expect thorough input.
"And I will demand the process," Rankin said from the floor. "And I believe that, as the committee chair, we owe the people of South Carolina, we owe the people that we represent not just being told, but being shown."
There's still the issue of no sine die agreement.
Without one, the governor can call the legislature back to Columbia. He just cannot tell the General Assembly what to do.
There's also another sine die measure hanging out there — S. 283, a much more narrow sine die agreement in bill form that would allow the legislature to return to deal with the state budget and any conference committees appointed on or before sine die.
Senate Minority Leader Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, told reporters he expects the redistricting debate to return next year.
"I sort of welcome new maps," Hutto said, referencing what he considered a competitive tilt of the map. "But I also think that it should be done with a purpose and a process. And that process has to include public input, which is something right now, apparently we just go surrender this to somebody from out of the state who drew this map and did not let South Carolinians participate in this."
Read more:
- Post and Courier: 5 SC Senate Republicans reject President Trump’s call to redraw SC’s congressional districts
- AP: Trump’s redistricting push fizzles in South Carolina Senate but wins in Missouri’s top court
- SC Daily Gazette: Senators reject White House push to redraw SC’s voting lines
- WIS: SC redistricting now in question after key Senate vote
- The State: ‘Too much southern blood in me to surrender,’ SC Senate opts against redistricting
- Greenville News: SC Senate refuses to extend legislature to consider redistricting
You can watch Hutto's full floor remarks below:
Roads bill compromise
A comprehensive roads bill is headed to the governor's desk for his signature.
On Tuesday, both the House and Senate voted to adopt a compromise report over S. 831, legislation sponsored by Senate Transportation Chairman Larry Grooms that overhauls state transportation department operations and seeks to ease congestion and speed up infrastructure projects.
Included in the bill headed to McMaster, it includes the elimination of the state DOT commission as of Jan. 1, 2027.
"After much discussion, it became apparent that's something the Senate will have to concede on," Grooms, R-Berkeley, told the conference committee. "The House position stands on that."
Under the bill, the transportation secretary will be appointed by the governor with advice and consent by the Senate.
The legislation will also include an audit requirement every four years, and, after House tweaks, no longer includes electric car fee increases and the incentivization for counties to take back state-owned non-essential roads.
Though those sticking points and others came out of the final bill, Grooms hinted they may not be dead overall and could be pieces of future legislative conversations.
Lawmakers in both chambers called the bill one of the most consequential pieces of legislation passed this year.
Traffic congestion and transportation issues are the "single-most often cited area of concern ... for folks in my community by far," Sen. Sean Bennett, R-Dorchester, said Tuesday. "It's not even close."
What's on the Wednesday agenda?
The House will work through a nearly 40-page calendar. The Senate will do the same as it also plans to debate two bills added to its priority slot, dealing with over-the-counter sales of Ivermectin and the so-called Guarantee Banking Act, which deals with ensuring financial institutions do not discriminate based on First Amendment grounds.
Statehouse daily planner (5/13)
SC House
- 9 a.m. — Blatt 516 — Judiciary Constitutional Laws Subcommittee 3039
Agenda
Live Broadcast
Live Broadcast - Audio Only - 9:45 a.m. — Blatt 403 — Beaufort County Legislative Delegation
Agenda - 10 a.m. — House in session
Live Broadcast
Live Broadcast - Audio Only
SC Senate
- 9:45 a.m. — Blatt 403 — Beaufort County Legislative Delegation
Agenda - 10:30 a.m. — Senate in session
Live Broadcast
Live Broadcast - Audio Only
SC governor
- 9:30 a.m. — Gov. Henry McMaster and Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette to join Statehouse leaders for a groundbreaking ceremony for the Robert Smalls monument on the Statehouse grounds
Statehouse clips from around the state
- Lawmakers consider their own pay raise again. Will it be constitutional this time? (WLTX)
- SC Republican Party plans to sue for closed primaries (SC Daily Gazette)
- SC’s Evette is asked how many members are in state House. She gives wrong number (The State)
- An SC school district will be the first in the state to offer this career-readiness program (Post and Courier)
- 3rd congressional district would host Palmetto Bowl every year in proposed SC map (The State)
- Electric bills, insurance bills and a secret project in Rock Hill (SC Business Review)
- In new book, former SC congressman Joe Cunningham lays out how Democrats can rebuild after 2024 (Post and Courier)
