Our democracy is under attack right here in South Carolina, John.

A Republican member of Congress -- now running for governor -- is calling for congressional lines to be redrawn mid-decade to break apart South Carolina’s 6th District. Not because voters asked for it. But because they want to eliminate the state’s only Democratic seat and silence Black voters.

This is an effort to silence Black voters.

It is an attempt to use redistricting as a political weapon -- just as Donald Trump and his allies have encouraged Republicans to do across the country -- to cling to power by diluting the voices of Black and Brown communities.

I’ve seen this playbook before. And I know exactly where it leads.

I am only the ninth Black person ever elected to Congress from South Carolina, and there was a gap of 95 years between the eighth and yours truly, the ninth. But this is not about me.  Generations marched, organized, and sacrificed to secure fair representation -- and we did not come this far to watch it be taken away by a partisan power grab.

This fight is bigger than one district. It’s about whether our democracy belongs to the people or to politicians who change the rules when they don’t like the results.

We cannot be silent. We cannot be complacent. And we cannot back down.

If you believe in fair representation, in voting rights, and in a democracy that reflects the will of the people, I need you with me in this fight.

Please make a contribution today to help us protect South Carolina’s only majority-Black district and elect leaders who will defend democracy -- not undermine it.

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Thank you for standing with me,

Jim