COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — President Donald Trump's push to reshape congressional districts ahead of the November elections suffered a double setback Tuesday, as South Carolina senators declined to do so and a federal court blocked a Republican-backed map in Alabama.
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.
The political drama in South Carolina is part of a Republican strategy — propelled by Trump — to redraw voting districts to the GOP's advantage in an attempt to hold on to a slim House majority in the midterm elections. Republicans have been moving quickly to try to leverage a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that weakened minority protections under the federal Voting Rights Act.
