South Carolina Republicans took the first step Friday to cancel the state’s June primary election — to give more time to potentially pass a new gerrymandered congressional map  — as absentee voting is already underway. 

A South Carolina House subcommittee voted 3-2 along party lines to advance a bill that would move the state’s June 9 primary election to August 11, with the expectation that the legislature would redraw the state’s congressional map to dismantle its lone Democratic district, represented by longtime Rep. Jim Clyburn. 

The vote came after the committee heard hours of public testimony urging lawmakers to reject pressure to delay the state’s primaries and draw new congressional maps. In all, 23 South Carolina residents testified against redistricting and moving the state’s primaries. No one spoke in support of either measure. 

More than 6,000 absentee ballots have already been sent out to military and overseas voters for the June primary — more than 200 of those ballots have since been returned, according to the South Carolina Election Commission (SCEC). Should the legislature approve the measure to delay the state’s primary, those ballots will be disqualified. 

Conway Belangia, the executive director of the SCEC, said at Friday’s hearing that moving the primary to August “will be difficult… but it is possible.” 

The difficulty, he outlined, is the massive amount it will cost taxpayers to toss out the ballots that have already been printed and sent to voters: Approximately $2.5 million. 

“That’s being done not for the benefit of all the citizens of this state, but for the benefit of one party,” Rep. Justin Bamberg (D) noted. 

Delaying the primary election would be done to accommodate a redistricting process moving so fast that even some state Republicans want to slow down. 

Earlier this week, Republicans in the South Carolina House approved a sine die amendment allowing lawmakers to return after adjournment to take up congressional redistricting — joining a cluster of Southern states rushing to redraw maps after the Supreme Court gutted key Voting Rights Act protections that had long shielded Black voting power from racial gerrymandering. 

But the state Senate, who convened yesterday and were expected to vote on the sine die amendment, did not take up the measure. Instead, the Senate pushed the vote to next week after some senators said they wanted to see what the new congressional map would look like. 

The map, presented during Friday’s House judiciary subcommittee hearing, would carve up Clyburn’s district, which sits in the South and Eastern part of the state and includes much of the majority-Black areas around the cities Charleston and Columbia. Instead, Charleston would be divided up into two districts — districts 1 and 7, the latter of which stretches more than 100 miles from Charleston. And Richland County, which contains the state’s capital city of Columbia, would be chopped up into three different districts. 

Dozens of residents testified in opposition to the map and bill to move the state’s primaries during the public comment portion of Friday’s hearing, including former Democratic National Committee chairman Jaime Harrison.

Of the proposed map, Harrison said “Richland County looks like a political jigsaw puzzle.”

For hours, South Carolina residents, one after the other, stepped up to the podium to address the House subcommittee. 

James Starnes, the president of a neighborhood association in Clyburn’s district, called the new map a “DEI map.”

“I’m looking at a map that says we’re not going to worry about qualifications, but we’re going to make sure that everybody is a Republican,” Starnes said. “That’s DEI, as defined by the Republican Party… This is the DEI map in my estimation.”

Chris Hemsall, a retired army colonel who also lives in Clyburn’s district, said he was “probably the most conservative person in this room,” and spoke out in opposition to the GOP’s gerrymandering efforts. 

“Who thinks gerrymandering is good for democracy?” he asked the lawmakers. “Who thinks gerrymandering makes for a more perfect union? Who thinks gerrymandering establishes justice? Nobody. We all know gerrymandering is wrong, so why are we doing it?”

SOUTH CAROLINA (WPDE) — South Carolina’s 2025-2026 shellfish harvesting season will close May 27 at one-half hour after sunset, according to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.

The closure includes oysters, clams, mussels and other bivalves from state and public shellfish grounds.

Officials said the seasonal shutdown is due to warmer water temperatures, which can increase bacteria levels and make shellfish unsafe to eat.

Recreational harvesting will remain closed through the summer and is expected to reopen Oct. 1.

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources will continue its Oyster Recycling and Enhancement program year-round, collecting shells to help rebuild oyster reefs. Volunteers can also take part in summer reef restoration projects, which support water quality and marine habitats.

For more information about shellfish harvesting regulations, click here.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (FOX Carolina) – A new poll from The Trafalgar Group offers an early snapshot of the Republican primary field in South Carolina’s race for governor.

The survey of 1,089 likely Republican primary voters was conducted May 2 to May 5 and lists a 2.9 percentage-point margin of error.

Who leads

In the poll’s test ballot, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette drew 25.2 percent support, followed by Attorney General Alan Wilson 23.1% percent.

The next tier included U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman 19.6 percent and U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace 15.2 percent.

The remaining candidates were Rom Reddy 10.1 percent, state Sen. Josh Kimbrell 4.2 percent and Jacqueline Dubose 2.7 percent.

What to know

Poll results can change quickly as campaigns ramp up, endorsements are made and more voters tune in.

The Trafalgar Group said the poll was conducted among likely GOP primary voters with a 95 percent confidence level.

What’s next

FOX Carolina will continue tracking new polling, endorsements and candidate announcements as the 2026 election cycle unfolds.

Feel more informed, prepared, and connected with FOX Carolina. For more free content like this, download our apps.