South Carolina Republican marks 'death knell' for Trump’s election scheme

U.S. President Donald Trump at Morristown Airport in Morristown, New Jersey, U.S., May 22, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper

Republican Richard J. Cash, who has been serving in the South Carolina State Senate since 2017, is decidedly conservative. But according to South Carolina Post and Courier reporter Nick Reynolds, Cash "may have just marked the death knell for redistricting" in his state.

South Carolina, a deep red state, is facing a major gerrymandering push from Republicans, including President Donald Trump. And Democratic critics of redistricting plans in South Carolina are warning that the congressional district Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-South Carolina) has been representing since the 1990s could be eliminated under a new congressional map.

Cash, however, is arguing that a new congressional map should not be implemented when voting in the 2026 midterms is already underway.

Reynolds, in a Tuesday, May 26 thread on X, formerly Twitter, quotes Cash as saying, "Neither my conscience nor the common sense will allow me to stop an election that is already underway."

According to Reynolds' thread, "Cash said he knows there may be some frustration the job didn't get done. But they've run out of runway. As of 1 p.m. some 32,300 ballots have been cast, the Election Commission says. And even then, there are too many amendments and too little time to pass these maps."

Reynolds reports, "As Cash notes, we are not on the bill yet — as it is third reading, we're at square one, and we would first need to invoke cloture, which requires 26 votes. We also clearly lack the votes to suspend the rules, making it likely we would not get a vote on this until tomorrow."

The South Carolina Post and Courier reporter quotes Cash as saying, "I understand the anger and frustration that we could not pass our redistricting bill any faster. But the rule of law is the bedrock principle of our constitutional republic and, I'll emphasize, it is also a bedrock principle of conservatism."

Reynolds also notes, "Sen. Larry Grooms, a vocal supporter of this bill, making one last-ditch effort to move the bill forward. 'There are still some of us who want to pass this map. And we cannot do it without a cloture vote,' he said."

Never Trump conservative Tara Setmayer, CEO of the Seneca Project, offered a scathing critique of how Republicans are handling redistricting in South Carolina during a Tuesday afternoon appearance on MS NOW.

Setmayer told MS NOW host Chris Jansing that South Carolina Republicans and the Trump Administration are trying to "rig the system" in the "middle of elections."

Setmayer argued, "They're trying to disenfranchise people of color in South Carolina…. It is absolutely about race…. And that is awakening the sleeping giant in the Black community in these southern states."

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