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South Carolina governor orders special redistricting session after state senators defied Trump – US politics live

Henry McMaster , South Carolina’s Republican governor, signed an executive order on Thursday ordering a special redistricting session ahead of the midterm elections. This comes after state senators in South Carolina bucked Donald Trump ’s demands earlier this week to approve plans to redraw the state’s congressional map after the supreme court gutted a key section of the Voting Rights Act . The president had urged them to back the redistricting proposal on Monday evening. The US president would be “watching closely”, he wrote on social media, adding: “GET IT DONE!” “We appreciate Governor McMaster’s leadership in ensuring South Carolina addresses congressional redistricting,” said Drew McKissick , the state’s Republican party chair. “Thanks to the Supreme Court ruling, Republicans have an opportunity to get this done, and we should maximize it. Now is the time for lawmakers to stand with President Trump, defend the Constitution, and finish the job.” The Friday session will focus on whether to redraw the state’s map to essentially get rid of the majority-minority district that Democrat currently James Clyburn represents. However, a number of South Carolina Republicans fear that mid-decade redistricting would actually weaken GOP voting power in newly-drawn districts.