Keep Charleston Together is an advocacy campaign led by former Congressman Joe Cunningham to raise awareness of the legislature's proposed gerrymandered congressional maps and to mobilize voters to urge their legislators to draw a fair congressional map.
Photo Courtesy of Jeffrey Collins/AP
“For decades, legislatures have bent over backwards to eliminate competitive congressional districts and create safe districts where it’s impossible to lose a general election. And what's been the result? A congress that cannot function. I've seen it, I've lived it.
Working across the aisle for members of Congress has become a four-letter word because the only thing they have to worry about is winning a primary and the results of general elections are predetermined."
- Joe Cunningham, Senate Redistricting Subcommittee Testimony, Nov. 29, 2021
Monday, November 29, 2021
Joe Cunningham
Testifies Before the SC Senate Redistricting Subcommittee
Joe opposes the proposed congressional map that seeks to gerrymander our state even more.
"The maps are awful. They make no sense. Unless, of course, the sole purpose of these maps is to make it harder for a Republican to lose."
Aaron McDade, Newsweek
Seanna Adcox, The Post and Courier
Jeffrey Collins, The Associated Press
What is gerrymandering?
Gerrymandering is the practice of drawing legislative and congressional districts in such a way as to give one political party an advantage over another.
In South Carolina, gerrymandering is typically done in order to minimize the impact of Black voters and Democratic voters so that the majority of our congressional representatives are Republicans.
About the proposed map
The proposed map for South Carolina’s congressional districts, recently advanced by the House, takes the already gerrymandered SC-01 and makes it even worse by splitting voters in the Charleston metro area between the First Congressional and the Sixth Congressional Districts. The proposed map also shifts SC-01 from a competitive, swing district to an R+17 district.
Here are some examples:
West Ashley and Mount Pleasant, both suburban Charleston communities, have been split into two different Congressional districts.
Most of Johns Island, which has a rich civil rights history due to its significant Black population, has been moved from SC-01 to SC-06. But nearly all-white Kiawah and Seabrook Islands remain in SC-01.
How you can help
The Charleston metro area should be kept in the same congressional district. Splitting the county into two districts has no justifiable purpose other than to create one district for White residents, and another district for Black residents.