McMaster reverses course, calls special session on redistricting

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster signed an executive order May 14 calling the General Assembly back into a special session on May 15 to take up congressional redistricting, reversing a position he had maintained for months, according to reporting by South Carolina Public Radio and WISTV in Columbia.

The special session, only the second McMaster has called in office, convened May 15 at the South Carolina Statehouse, with the House gaveling in at 11 a.m., South Carolina Public Radio reported. The regular legislative session had ended at 5 p.m. May 14, just minutes before McMaster signed the order.

Because the legislature adjourned without a sine die resolution in place, the special session is broadly open to discussion beyond redistricting alone, ABC News 4 in Charleston reported. The proposed congressional map would redraw all seven of South Carolina’s districts to favor Republicans, effectively dismantling the 6th Congressional District held by Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn — the state’s only Democratic congressional seat — WISTV reported.

The push would also move congressional primaries from June 9 to August 18, discarding more than 5,000 absentee ballots already distributed, according to South Carolina Public Radio.

Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey told reporters McMaster’s move was “a complete 180” from positions the governor had expressed over the past eight to nine months, South Carolina Public Radio reported.