BEAUFORT, S.C. () – A new push is underway to reshape South Carolina’s only Democrat-held congressional seat.

A Republican candidate for governor is promising that if he wins, he will ask the state legislature to re-draw the lines of South Carolina’s Sixth Congressional District (SC-06) , Rep. Jim Clyburn’s (D-SC) district.

“We’re a conservative state. Six of the seven congressman are Republican,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), who currently represent South Carolina’s 5th District but is also running for governor, said.

SC-06 includes several areas of the Lowcountry, like Jasper and Hampton counties.

The lines for District 6 were recently redrawn in response to 2020 U.S. Census data, but, now, some lawmakers are looking shake things up going into the 2026 election cycle.

“He’s not in line with the South Carolina voters, and I would argue he’s not in line with the Sixth District. If you look at how the lines, they’re drawn, it’s a jigsaw puzzle it looks like made up by a bunch of drunk sailors,” Rep. Norman said.

Rep. Clyburn said Rep. Norman’s argument has no merit.

“I don’t respond to foolishness,” he said. “If you think that everybody’s got to agree on everything, everybody’s got to be a Republican, there’s something wrong with you.”

Clyburn has represented his district for decades and is the only Black representative in the state.

According to the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau, District 6 also has a significantly higher concentration of Black voters than any other district in South Carolina.

“Anybody who says that because the majority of South Carolinians are white, there should not be any Black representation, because the majority of South Carolinians voted for Republicans, that means no Black people should have any representation, I would like to know, when did 56% become 100%?” Clyburn said.

Norman told his campaign promise was not about race.

“I hope to have a bill on my desk when I become Governor that starts the process,” he said. “We can have the debate over how the lines are drawn and how the number of voters is proportionally divided up, but it’s the right thing to do at the right time.”

For South Carolina’s congressional districts to be redrawn again, the state legislature would have to vote in favor of that decision.

“The fact is, there’s no one party who has a monopoly on the thought process,” Clyburn said.