South Carolina — 6th District

Well, that didn’t take long.

Within hours of the U.S. Supreme Court declaring racial gerrymandering unconstitutional, most of South Carolina’s Republican candidates for governor called on the Legislature to immediately redraw the state’s seven congressional districts.

Well, actually just the one that Democrats win.

“With a GOP supermajority, it’s time to redraw the lines so NO ONE has a guaranteed seat,” said Congressman Ralph Norman.

You know, other than Republicans.

Lt. Gov. Pam Evette, whose entire platform is built on serving up more red meat than a Texas Roadhouse, was even more blunt. She said it’s “time for the State Legislature to end the Democratic stronghold on the 6th Congressional District and let people, not politicians, decide who represents them.”

Which is really just asking that politicians pick different politicians to represent those people.

At least Attorney General Alan Wilson wasn't so hyperbolic.

“I applaud the Court’s decision that the drawing of congressional district lines should not be drawn based on race,” he said. “A flawed understanding of the Voting Rights Act is no excuse for racial gerrymandering.”

Yeah, he’s going to have to work on his feigned outrage if he wants to win this primary.

To recap, the U.S. Supreme Court — while declaring a Louisiana majority-minority congressional district unconstitutional — ruled that states can’t gerrymander for racial reasons … although they can for partisan ones.

Which is sort of like saying it’s OK to rob a bank, depending on who profits. Or exactly like saying it’s OK to rig a political district, depending on who benefits.

Bottom line, some South Carolina Republicans have made it clear they like Jim Crow a lot more than Jim Clyburn. That’s a winning message in a GOP primary, because Republicans have complained about the 6th District for decades.

Mainly, because they don’t realize just how much it benefits them.

Now, is the 6th District — which stretches from Columbia to Charleston, and up and down Interstate 95 like some roadkill octopus — really gerrymandered?

You betcha. Fact is, most states are gerrymandered to benefit whichever party runs it. And Democrat- and Republican-led states are doing it even more brazenly now.

But South Carolina won't join in, Speaker Murrell Smith says.

“South Carolina leads by example,” he posted on social media. “Working together, the House and Senate delivered fair maps after the 2020 Census — no do-overs needed."

Smith knows something that pandering politicians — and the voters who love them — don’t understand: Corralling huge swaths of Democrats into one congressional district keeps the six other districts safely in Republican hands.

The 6th District is the state’s gerrymandering dumping ground. See, redistricting is a delicate puzzle. Move Dems out of the 6th, and you gotta put 'em somewhere — preferably where they don’t impede Republican landslides.

Take the 1st District. When Democrat Joe Cunningham won that seat in 2018, the Legislature took downtown Charleston and West Ashley — places with moderate chunks of Democrats — and moved them into the 6th. GOP wins again. Problem solved.

If the state actually drew districts that made sense — say Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties, one cohesive region with common interests — it would serve voters better. But the outcome of those races wouldn’t be, uh, predictable.

Which means safely Republican.

That's why Joe Wilson doesn’t have the entire Columbia metro area in the 2nd District. Keeping Midlands Dems in the 6th keeps Wilson safely reelected, often without opposition.

If you look at the vote percentages Democrats get in statewide elections — usually 40 percent, sometimes higher — you realize this state is just as rigged as those Northern ones right-wingers call extreme gerrymanders (even though a few of them only have one House seat).

South Carolina Republicans comfortably hold six of the state’s seven U.S. House seats, which works out to 86 percent. Not bad for a state that's only 60 percent Republican.

Which is why legislative leaders (who’ve drawn themselves supermajorities in the state House and Senate) don't want to meddle with the map. Fool around, and you could end up with — gasp — competitive elections in November.

Which is something that Republicans in Texas (which started this mid-census redistricting baloney) and Florida are quietly worried about.

And which might spare voters the culture war malarkey that dominates politics (instead of actual policy) today.

And which is why South Carolina Democrats aren't griping much about this Supreme Court ruling.

“I’m not in a habit of interrupting Republicans when they are making a mistake,” says Charleston state Sen. Ed Sutton. “I welcome South Carolina redistricting and look forward to putting two to three congressional districts in the competitive range.”

That’ll be the day — the day Republicans overreach, and try to redraw the 6th District.