Lindsey Graham proposes redrawing districts in South Carolina after approval of new electoral map in Virginia

South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham suggested Wednesday that his state could push its own redistricting process after voters in Virginia approved a Democratic-backed plan to redraw congressional maps last Tuesday. "After the Virginia Democrats’ efforts to redistrict in order to increase Democrat seats in the House of Representatives, South Carolina should consider fighting fire with fire. I would encourage South Carolina’s next Republican governor and the Republican legislature to seriously look at what our state’s response should be to Democrats in Virginia," Graham wrote in a post on his X account.

Graham's remarks come after Virginia approved a new map for the midterm elections, which is now largely favorable to the Democratic Party and will feature 10 favorable districts out of 11 in the House of Representatives. In the current map, drawn up by an independent agency, Democrats have six congressmen and Republicans have five, of which only districts 2, 7 and 11 are competitive. Virginia voters had a choice of two options: "yes" to approve the new Democratic-majority map; and "no" to reject the changes and keep the current map. With more than 97% of the votes counted, the "yes" option garnered 51.5% of the vote, compared to 48.5% for the rejection option. In November, this result could translate into up to four new Democratic seats in the House of Representatives.

In addition to the Republican senator, President Donald Trump also reacted to the result, claiming the process was rigged. "A RIGGED ELECTION TOOK PLACE LAST NIGHT IN THE GREAT COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA! All day long Republicans were winning; the Spirit was unbelievable, until the very end when, of course, there was a massive ‘Mail In Ballot Drop!’ Where have I heard that before — And the Democrats eked out another Crooked Victory! Six to five goes to ten to one, and yet the Presidential Election in November was very close to a 50-50 split," the Republican leader wrote on his Truth Social account.