Matt is a senior reporter covering elections, voting rights and threats to democracy. He’s covered far-right extremism, dark money and state and local elections as an investigative reporter at The American Independent and Mother Jones. Prior to reporting on politics, Matt cut his teeth as a local reporter in D.C. at the Washington City Paper and DCist.
“The ease of which you bend the knee to your lord and savior Donald Trump, I just don’t understand,” Rep. Heather Bauer said to her Republican colleagues. “It’s not fair to South Carolinians.”
The move was a reversal from the governor’s previous stance at the beginning of the month, when his office specifically said that he wouldn’t call a special redistricting session.
The discussions stem from President Donald Trump’s most recent anti-voting executive order targeting mail-in voting.
The law has been criticized by lawmakers and voting rights advocates for attempting to dilute the voting power of Black voters, since it only applies to five specific counties.
Should Petersen win the general election in November, as is likely in the Republican-leaning state, he would be one of the most extreme and right-wing chief election officials in the country.
The move is a strong rebuke of President Donald Trump’s efforts to pressure southern states to quickly pass gerrymandered maps ahead of the midterms.
23 South Carolina residents testified against redistricting and moving the state’s primaries. No one spoke in support of either measure.
South Carolina Republicans took a major step toward redrawing the state’s congressional map in an effort that could dismantle the state’s lone Democratic district, long represented by Rep. Jim Clyburn.
Chad Bianco is also linked to the far-right extremist group the Oath Keepers, a fact that came up during Tuesday’s debate.
The lead plaintiff in the case that destroyed the Voting Rights Act (VRA) has a history of promoting false election conspiracies and anti-voting policies, and was at the Stop the Steal protest at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, before a deadly riot by pro-Trump insurrectionists.
Page 1 of 38