U.S. President Donald Trump reacts at the end of the State of the Union address in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 24, 2026. REUTERS KEVIN LAMARQUE
While an endorsement from President Donald Trump can make or break Republicans in some state primaries, sticking to the president’s side may not be enough to pull you through by itself, reports the State.
Such appears to be the case for freshman state Rep. Luke Rankin, R-Laurens, who lost his bid for reelection on Tuesday, even after sponsoring Trump’s failed legislation to redraw South Carolina’s congressional maps just weeks earlier.
Republican Rick Shealy, founder of an environmental services company, defeated Rankin by about 20 points in the Republican primary, according to state Election Commission data and The State, despite Rankin being the lead sponsor on a new congressional map pushed by the Trump administration in May. The map aimed to make all seven congressional districts in South Carolina reliably Republican, and would have gone into effect for the ongoing election.
In a twist, however, The Republican-led South Carolina Senate voted against advancing the new congressional map, ending the redistricting effort in the state before the November midterms. The failed vote on a motion to end debate on the proposal was a surprise rebuff of Trump, who had urged lawmakers to pass the redrawn map that eliminated the state’s single majority-Black district.
“While state Republican leadership initially seemed skeptical of mid-decade redistricting, phone calls from the White House changed their mind at the last minute,” reports the State.
Despite that arm-twisting, the state’s longtime Democratic Rep. James Clyburn will retain his district.
"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."
Claire Wofford, a College of Charleston political science professor, told NPR that many Republicans see Clyburn as collegial and effective. And Wofford said Clyburn has directed hundreds of millions of federal dollars to South Carolina.
Like Rankin, other Republicans did not fare as well with a Trump endorsement as others in Southern states. Bulwark podcaster Tim Miller pointed out that Lieutenant Governor Pamela Yvette failed to avoid a run-off with a Republican competitor, despite Trump’s open support. Yvette nabbed only 28.9 percent of the vote, which Miller said is “an embarrassment for Trump … [because] Trump endorsed her and couldn't even get her to a third of the vote.”