Tuesday, May 26, 2026: The South Carolina Republican effort to steal Jim CLyburn’s seat in Congress has failed.

Technically, today’s vote was not an up or down vote on one of the new maps. It was a vote to end any filibuster (called cloture), and it required 26 votes to cut off debate. It got only 18. The issue was technically tabled, and the Senate adjourned until after the June 9 Primary.

The upshot is that the Primary and General Election for US House seats will proceed with the current maps. There will be no special Primary in August. House candidates, including Mallory Dittmer and Andrew Clough, running in the Democratic Primary in the SC 5th District, can resume campaigning as normal.

Why the big turnaround? Republicans have their own reasons, but many were never comfortable with the “too much, too late” nature of President Trump’s insistence on last-minute, mid-cycle redistricting in Republican-led states to head off expected Democratic gains in the House next term. In South Carolina, redistricting to pick up one seat would have happened in the middle of Early Voting, throwing out votes for Congressional candidates and requiring a special Primary in August, only for the US House election.

Democratic leadership at the state and county level urged Democrats to head the polls on Tuesday, May 26 (the first day of early voting, as Monday was Memorial Day) for a massive early vote, hoping that would turn more Republicans against the redistricting plan. it worked. Some Republican senators cited the record turnout among their reasons for voting against continuing the redistricting effort.