Less than a week after the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, Black voters are quickly seeing the effect ripple throughout the country.

ABC reports that South Carolina has now joined a wave of Southern states reshaping their congressional maps in the middle of an election year.

These changes will likely weaken Black political power in the state. Republican lawmakers are advancing plans to redraw at least one district that has long been represented by a Black Democratic lawmaker, as part of a broader bid to convert all seven of the state’s House seats into Republican‑held territory. 

The move aligns with a regional push now underway in Alabama, Tennessee, and Louisiana, where GOP‑led legislatures are also fine‑tuning their congressional boundaries.

The Supreme Court’s decision on Louisiana’s Black‑majority districts cracked open a legal door that many Republicans say now lets them argue that prior protections for minority voters have been over‑emphasized. 

The new interpretation makes it easier for states to dismantle majority‑Black districts without strong federal oversight, especially in places with long histories of racial disenfranchisement. 

In South Carolina, that tension has simmered since 2024, when the Court allowed a map that had been accused of racial gerrymandering, effectively shielding a GOP‑drawn configuration that moved tens of thousands of Black voters in ways that supported Republicans.

State officials say the current redistricting push is about “fair representation” and aligning districts with updated population data.

Legal challenges are already brewing, and Black voters are being encouraged to keep a close eye on the maps, filing deadlines, and local primaries, arguing that the contours of these districts could shape representation for a decade.

South Carolina's primaries are June 9, with early voting starting in three weeks.