COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Republicans, urged by President Donald Trump, are moving to redraw the state's 6th Congressional District, a seat held since 1992 by Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn. State legislative leaders said the redistricting issue could be considered as soon as Wednesday, with the state's primary elections scheduled for June 9 and early voting beginning three weeks prior.

South Carolina has seven congressional seats, and Republicans are seeking to win all of them. The 6th District was redrawn in 1992 to favor minority voters, and Clyburn is running for an 18th term in Congress. Initiating redistricting requires a two-thirds vote in each chamber of the state House and Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey said redistricting could backfire because of thin political margins and potentially result in Democrats winning a second U.S. House seat from the state. Massey said he had a cordial conversation with Trump about redistricting, during which each expressed their concerns.

The push follows a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that Louisiana relied too heavily on race when creating a second Black-majority House district, striking it down. The ruling clarified legal standards for racial considerations in redistricting and provided grounds for Republicans to propose eliminating majority-Black districts that have elected Democrats. Since last year, eight states have adopted new U.S. House district maps. Republicans project gaining as many as 13 seats from the newly adopted districts, while Democrats project gaining up to 10.

Lawmakers in Alabama and Tennessee convened special legislative sessions to consider redrawing U.S. House districts, and Louisiana lawmakers are planning to redraw their congressional districts after the Supreme Court struck down the state's current map. Alabama Republicans want to implement a 2023 legislative map that could help them win at least one of the two congressional seats currently held by Democrats, and the Alabama Legislature is considering legislation to authorize a special congressional primary if the Supreme Court permits changes. Alabama's primary is scheduled for May 19.

Tennessee's governor called a special session to consider a plan to break up the state's lone Democratic-held U.S. House district centered on Memphis. Protesters shouted "Shame, shame, shame" inside the Tennessee Senate chamber during the special session. Tennessee's candidate qualifying period ended in March, and its primary is scheduled for August 6.

Louisiana's governor postponed the May 16 congressional primary to allow lawmakers time to approve new U.S. House districts. By the Thursday before the suspension, voters had returned over 41,000 absentee ballots, representing about one third of all absentee ballots sent. Around 19,000 came from registered Democrats, 17,000 from registered Republicans, and the remainder from voters not registered with either party. Democratic and civil rights groups filed lawsuits challenging the suspension.