Updated on: May 26, 2026 / 2:27 PM EDT
/ CBS/AP
Add CBS News on Google
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," GOP state Sen. Richard Cash said.Among the first to cast an early ballot in the small city of Orangeburg was Rep. Jim Clyburn, the Democrat whose district Republicans were trying to reshape in their quest for a clean sweep of South Carolina's seven congressional seats. A defiant Clyburn insisted he would run for reelection, regardless of what the district looks like."I'm OK if it's Trump plus 20," Clyburn said while describing the potential Republican advantage in a reshaped district. "I would be running where I live."The political drama in South Carolina is part of a Republican strategy — propelled by Mr. 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 Supreme Court ruling that weakened minority protections under the federal Voting Rights Act.
