The initiative by the U.S. president, Donald Trump, to redraw congressional voting districts ahead of the November elections suffered two setbacks on Tuesday: South Carolina senators rejected the proposal, and a federal court suspended the map backed by Republicans in Alabama.
With the start of in-person early voting in South Carolina’s primaries on Tuesday, the state Senate rejected a Republican plan to cancel the congressional primaries and call a new contest already under redesigned districts, a move that would benefit the Republican Party.
The fight in South Carolina is part of a Republican strategy, encouraged by Trump, to redraw electoral districts in the party’s favor and preserve the narrow House majority in the midterm elections. The party has moved quickly after a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that reduced protections for minorities provided by the Voting Rights Act.
In Alabama, a three-judge federal panel issued a preliminary injunction preventing the state from using a congressional electoral map drawn by Republicans, which could help the Republican Party win an additional seat. The court found that the plan “intentionally discriminated on the basis of race” by including only one Black-majority district and ordered the continued use of a court-imposed map, which includes two districts with a significant proportion of Black residents.
The Alabama Attorney General, Steve Marshall, a Republican, pledged to swiftly appeal to the United States Supreme Court and predicted an eventual victory.
Republicans remain ahead in a nationwide mid-decade redistricting battle. But Democrats, who have suffered their own setbacks, hailed the turnaround in Alabama.
