Dem rep issues blistering warning over new GOP plan: 'Careful what you pray for'

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) issued President Donald Trump a blistering warning Sunday over the GOP’s new gerrymandering blitz, cautioning the president that his push for Republican-led states to redraw their congressional district maps could come back to haunt them, and as soon as this November.

The conservative-leaning Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling last week that effectively gutted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, a provision designed to prohibit racially discriminatory voting policies – namely, the drawing of congressional districts in such a manner as to dilute the voting power of historically marginalized groups.

In the immediate aftermath of the decision, Republican-led states launched a coordinated effort to redraw their congressional maps despite the longstanding practice of redistricting once every decade following the U.S. census. That effort has reached South Carolina, with Republican Gov. Henry McMaster now facing pressure to call a special session and redraw the state’s map to benefit the GOP.

Should McMaster cave and initiate proceedings to redraw the state’s map, however, Clyburn warned that it could come back to bite them.

“I do believe that voters in this country are watching very closely and they are feeling emotionally what the threat is to our future, and I do not believe that the majority of voters in this country condone and will agree with what President Trump is doing,” Clyburn told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday.

“The president says he wants them to redraw the lines – all I'm going to say to that is, be very careful what you pray for, because what I believe is that when they finish with the redistricting, there will be the possibility of at least three Democrats getting elected here in South Carolina to the United States Congress.”

Tapper was visibly intrigued by Clyburn’s assessment.

“So you think that the redistricting they're doing in South Carolina could not only dilute your Democratic-leaning district, but other Republican-leaning districts so as to make them more competitive?” Tapper said. “That's interesting.”