President Donald Trump's push to redraw U.S. House districts yielded mixed results on Tuesday, as South Carolina senators defied his desires while Missouri's top court upheld a new map that could help Republicans gain an additional seat in the November midterm elections.
The national battle over congressional redistricting has intensified following a recent Supreme Court ruling that weakened the federal Voting Rights Act. This decision provides states with new grounds to potentially eliminate voting districts with large minority populations, inflaming an already contentious process.
Missouri Court Upholds Split of Kansas City
Missouri was the second Republican state, after Texas, to redraw its congressional districts at Trump's urging last year. On Tuesday, two unanimous state Supreme Court decisions delivered a complete victory for the state's Republican leadership, according to Attorney General Catherine Hanaway.
Attorneys challenging the map focused on changes to a Kansas City-based district long represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. The new map stretches a compact urban district covering 20 miles and two counties into a 200-mile behemoth spanning 15 counties. However, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court's finding that the map as a whole satisfies compactness requirements, even if the Kansas City district appears less compact.
A second case centred on whether the new map took effect in December or should have been suspended when referendum signatures were submitted. The court agreed with Republican officials that the districts can only be suspended after the Secretary of State determines the petition meets constitutional requirements, a decision expected by August 4, the day of Missouri's primary elections.
South Carolina Senator Sees Risk in Redistricting
Trump urged South Carolina to redraw its congressional districts to help Republicans win another seat. The state House voted in favour of considering redistricting after the regular session, proposing a map that could eliminate the state's only Democratic-held seat. However, the Senate fell two votes short of the two-thirds needed to take up the matter, as five Republicans joined Democrats in opposition.
Trump had urged senators to be bold and courageous, but some Republican senators expressed doubts the proposed map would guarantee unseating longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn. They also feared it could push Democrats into other districts, potentially backfiring and resulting in a 5-2 or even 4-3 Republican split. Republican Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey acknowledged the pressure but stated he prefers doing what is best for his state rather than bending to anyone's will.
Louisiana Hearing Leads to Death Threats
Louisiana state Sen. Jay Morris, a Republican who drafted redistricting bills to eliminate one or both majority-Black districts, reported receiving death threats after a contentious hearing where he told members of the public to shut up. Morris denied using a derogatory term toward a Black Democratic Party official.
State Sen. Gary Carter, one of three Black Democrats on the Senate committee overseeing redistricting, withdrew from the committee after shouting at Republicans during the hearing. He publicly apologised for losing his temper. Carter is being replaced by state Sen. Royce Duplessis, a Democrat representing New Orleans.
The redistricting landscape remains contentious across the South, with ongoing legal challenges in Louisiana, Tennessee, and Alabama. Republicans believe they could gain as many as 14 seats from new maps in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida, and Tennessee, while Democrats hope to gain six seats from maps in California and Utah.
