The South Carolina House of Representatives passed a new congressional map early Wednesday morning aimed at eliminating the state’s only Democratic seat at the urging of President Trump.
Among the proposed changes is a significant, Republican-leaning shift of the Sixth Congressional District, which is currently represented by James E. Clyburn, a powerful Black Democrat.
The map now heads to the State Senate, where some conservative members have been more hesitant to jump into the nation’s redistricting battles. Republicans already hold six of the state’s seven congressional seats, and some lawmakers have expressed skepticism about possibly unseating Mr. Clyburn, a power broker who has funneled vast resources into South Carolina over the years.
Indeed, there initially appeared to be little appetite for redistricting from Gov. Henry McMaster, a Republican, who did not immediately call for a special session on the issue. And some conservative state senators voiced opposition to the idea, saying it could backfire and create more competitive districts for Democrats by spreading out liberal voters — known as a dummymander.
But then Mr. McMaster, who has faced pressure from much of the conservative base to heed Mr. Trump’s demands, announced that he would call for a special session focused on redistricting and the state budget.
The governor has said that it is up to the General Assembly to examine the congressional map and determine necessary changes.
The State House voted on the map around 12:30 a.m. because a Democratic lawmaker requested the text of the bill be read aloud, in an effort to slow the process. It took more than three hours. As James L. Mann “Bubba” Cromer Jr., the reading clerk, began his marathon, he uttered: “Let’s get it done.”
In the State House, Republican members are up for re-election this year and are considered more vulnerable to pressure from the president. It did not go unnoticed in Columbia, the capital, that many of the Republican state senators in Indiana who voted down Mr. Trump’s plan on redistricting lost their primaries this month to challengers he had endorsed.
Now, all eyes are on the State Senate and the clock. The primary is on June 9. Republicans are trying to approve a new map in this special session before early voting starts on May 26.
That leaves them with just this week to get it done, unless members are asked to return over the holiday weekend, or they decide to change the map in the middle of early voting. Either way, lawsuits are expected to be filed, and it is unclear how the South Carolina Supreme Court would handle a new map.
This week, Democrats in the State House also tried to slow down the redistricting effort by introducing hundreds of amendments. Even though the new map might benefit Democrats in a possible wave election this year, it could still hurt them in the long run.
Late Monday night, Republicans rewrote the rules of debate by limiting lawmakers’ ability to offer amendments, which sped up the process.
Claire Wofford, a professor of political science at the College of Charleston who reviewed the new map, pointed out that it would divide communities “that have long been in the same districts and that share various important components.”
Besides altering Mr. Clyburn’s district, for example, the proposed map would lump Myrtle Beach, a popular tourist spot, into the same district as parts of Charleston. Those areas have vastly different priorities and may find themselves competing for attention and resources, such as coastal infrastructure investments.
The Republican mayors of Charleston and Mount Pleasant, a wealthy nearby town, released a joint statement last week saying they had “real concerns about what is being proposed in Columbia.”
State Representative Thomas F. Hartnett Jr., whose district includes Charleston County, was one of the Republicans who voted against the new map on Tuesday night.
“I was elected to defend the interests of my district, even if that means standing alone,” he said.
But State Representative April Cromer, a Republican member of the South Carolina Freedom Caucus, argued that the maps were creating fairer representation because Black Democrats would not be packed into one district.
“The people of South Carolina do need lessons about racism every time a Republican wins an election,” she said.
Dr. Wofford said that in her analysis of the map, Republican nerves about a dummymander could be overblown.
“Even with Democrats angry about Trump, the economy, or the new map, it would take a truly unprecedented blue wave,” she said, adding: “The Republican margins are very solid in each district.”
Democrats on Tuesday night appeared to preview what their messaging could look like, if a new map were to pass the legislature.
“By all means, let us continue this great march of progress by redrawing the congressional maps,” State Representative Robert Reese, said in a sarcastic tone. “Because nothing lowers a power bill like redistricting.”
One other change was repeatedly brought up by lawmakers.
The football stadiums for the University of South Carolina Gamecocks and the Clemson University Tigers would be in the same district under the new map. The schools are major rivals.
Eduardo Medina is a Times reporter covering the South. An Alabama native, he is now based in Durham, N.C.
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