There's a rally today (noon) in front of the State House to give support to moderate Republicans who still have a sense of ethics and responsibility to South Carolina.

Background: Supreme Court ruled that it was nearly impossible to prove district maps are racially gerrymandered to specifically target black voters. This set off a scramble among southern states that had been prevented from having effectively racist maps.

South Carolina was NOT among that scramble. Governor McMaster originally said he'd veto any attempt. Senator Massey (head of the Senate) said it was an incredibly stupid move.

Trump pressured Governor McMaster to call the legislature back into session and do it anyway. The rumor is that Trump will endorse an Evette/McMaster Jr. ticket if South Carolina successfully draws a presumed 7-0 map. The SC House is so eager to do this they called a sketchy rules committee meeting to change the rules and prevent Democrats from using parliamentary procedure to block this.

Primary election day is June 9th. Early voting starts the 26th. Absentee (mostly military) ballots have already been sent out.

What's Normal: District maps are usually drawn after the every 10 year census. Yes, some states gerrymander as much as possible. Many other states have been passing Fair Districting Laws to hold their states together. It would normally take one to two years to draw a new map, debate it, and schedule implementation of that map. What is going on now is not normal. It's people drawing battle lines.

Why this is extra bad:

1. South Carolina didn't draw or ask for this map. Trump did. He literally sent the map and said I want it like this.
2. They are targeting Clyburn's district. This is the person who gets the lion's share of federal funding for South Carolina. None of the other representatives are anywhere near as effective as he is. Why? Cause Clyburn is actually good at his job. The racism aside, this will cost South Carolina billions if they are successful in pushing him out.
3. It will cost South Carolina millions in direct administration costs. They don't even have a full cost yet.
4. It is just flat unnecessary chaos. If they want to redraw the map, fine, but it shouldn't go into effect until 2028 to give people time to get their crap together.

There is still time to call or email your South Carolina Senators and tell them NO. https://www.scstatehouse.gov/legislatorssearch.php

Scroll down to Coble to watch the hearing.

Backstory is that Democrats are using every possible method to drag out the redistricting so military votes aren't thrown out. If they can run out the clock with parliamentary devices, we can have normal elections.

This is not something the SC GOP wants to do. They are being ordered to do it.

Call your Republican representatives and senators and tell them NO.

There's a huge fight going down in Columbia as everyone tries to stop the out of cycle redistricting.

Last night, the rules committee conducted an illegal change mid session. Lawsuit already filed with a hearing in the morning.

Democrats are conducting a South Carolina filibuster to try and block the illegal redistricting.

Good morning,

This is just a quick update post about the political question of the day. "Will South Carolina redraw maps and cancel elections like Louisiana?"

Governor McMaster showed no interest in redrawing South Carolina House Districts again. So Trump called the head of the SC Senate, Shane Massey https://www.scstatehouse.gov/member.php?code=1185227131, directly. The president is threatening any local Republican with funding their primary opponents if they don't go along with his plan.

My personal opinion is that Gerrymandering is the root of all evils. No matter who does it. It divides the country up and encourages extremism. After all, if all you have to do is make it through primaries, you just have to appeal to the most extreme and dedicated voters.

This is how we end up with extreme abortion bills, bathroom bills, and contrail bills, instead of fixing our roads, restoring our schools, and shoring up our Social Services.

What you can do:
Yep, call your Representatives and Senators. https://www.scstatehouse.gov/legislatorssearch.php

Talk to your neighbors. And if you've got an opinion on this, share it! (Remember to keep it civil)

This is your regular reminder that we are MAGAs free advertising. If you repost some horrifying thing they said or did, then all that does is put their talking points in front of others.

Instead, simply post your own talking points, or something positive for one of the progressive candidates running for office.

The only way we cut through the noise is by not participating in it.

Example: MAGA Politician posts a collection of lies. Just post a countering collection of facts. Don't even mention the politician or reference their lies.

Setup a brainstorm posts here on 50501 to zero in on OUR messaging. What do WE want to say about [topic]?

No Kings, Indivisible, and 50501 have done a phenomenal job building a huge network of people across the country.

The next stage is right now. Primaries.

More people are running for office today than in a very long time. A lot of them are running for office for the first time. They are putting careers, savings, time, and relationships on the line to step up and give us the opportunity to choose.

These are people running in very red districts and they need our help.

Here are things you can do in order of effort, from lowest to highest.

1. Donate. Look up your VERY local candidates and toss some money at them. These are City Council (sign agreements with ICE), County Council, (sign agreements with ICE), State Legislatures.
2. Be the social media hype crew for those candidates and simply DO NOT SHUT UP about them. "Where do you want to go to lunch? Oh, did you hear about Jane Doe running for City Council 2? OH MY GOD SHE'S amazing!!!"
3. A subset of 2 is to get to their events and be the unofficial photographer and videographer.
4. Research things that are LOCALLY important to you and write up a white paper or essay on it, and give it to the local candidate. These folks do NOT have staff. Don't assume they know things you don't. Potholes, roads that need to be fixed, water or septic issues, school thoughts, etc etc.
5. Volunteer and go with them to knock on doors, make phone calls, organize events, or whatever your talent is.

My current focus is that I built a site JUST for my County. It highlights every candidate running for office in any capacity that will cover my County. from city council to Governor, House, and Senate.

I also set up a scheduling site where candidates can reach out to me to grab me for phone banking and canvassing. Other people can sign up to volunteer as phone bankers and canvassers. I hope to have the bugs worked out by next week and I'll post it here for cloning. It's pretty cheap to host and you'll at least help get the word out on available candidates.

All of us can do SOMETHING. And yes, every bit of it matters.