COLUMBIA — The South Carolina House voted 73-33 on May 18, 2026, to adopt a rule limiting each member to one amendment and imposing time limits on debate over a redrawn congressional district map. The measure under consideration would delay primaries for the state's seven U.S. House seats until August 18, eight days before early voting opens.

A House rules committee held a hastily called meeting to expedite the redistricting process after nearly 10 hours of floor debate. Before the rule change, nearly 500 amendments were pending on the bill. Rep. Tom Hartnett, a Republican from Mount Pleasant, voted against the rule alongside Democrats. The House did not vote on the map bill itself Monday and reconvened at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

Gov. Henry McMaster called legislators back into session late last week to consider redistricting, and by its second day the special session had cost more than $200,000. The state will spend at least $203,000 on pay for House members during the session, and has allocated $3.5 million to run a second set of primaries.

"I have not spoken to President Trump about this at all," McMaster said. "But I think we've got to get it done." Republicans in the Legislature are pushing a map, drawn by the Republican Redistricting Trust and backed by the White House, that would result in an all-Republican congressional delegation.

Rep. Nathan Ballentine and several other Republicans expressed reservations about a plan targeting the state's only seat held by U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn. "Is it legal? Probably. Is it constitutional? It might be. But there's no might be about the lines that we are currently under," Ballentine said. He pointed to the timing of the change, with more than 10,000 ballots already mailed to overseas and absentee voters and hundreds returned. "My mama raised me, just because you can, doesn't mean you should," he said.

House Majority Leader Davey Hiott said he expected a long and confrontational debate on the redistricting bill. House Republicans set a self-imposed deadline of May 26 to pass a new map. The bill keeps other primaries, including statewide offices, state House seats, and the U.S. Senate, on schedule for June 9, with runoffs June 23. If congressional primaries move to August, U.S. House candidates would still appear on June 9 ballots, but those votes would not count. If the House passes the bill, it would require approval by the state Senate, which refused to include redistricting in a resolution setting rules for post-session legislative actions.