Holy Tim Scott! MS NOW Panel Claims SC Blacks to Be 'Disenfranchised' by GOP

On her eponymous Monday show, MS NOW host Chris Jansing presided over a discussion of GOP efforts to redraw South Carolina's congressional districts in which her Democrat guests claimed that blacks are being "disenfranchised" in South Carolina and that white Americans refuse to vote for black candidates because of "racism."

It was not mentioned at all in the 11-minute segment that one of the state's two U.S. Senators -- Tim Scott -- is black and had even previously been elected in one of the state's white-majority congressional districts. But he's a Republican.

Jansing gave a melodramatic introduction:

JANSING: Today a dramatic warning about voting rights from one North Carolina state senator who told Politico the entire South is on fire. The latest example, South Carolina, where lawmakers today are launching into what is expected to be a long and heated discussion about new congressional maps. Republicans are looking to erase the state's lone Democratic seat that's held by civil rights icon James Clyburn.

After bringing aboard her guests -- strategist Julie Rosinsky and State Rep. Kambrell Garvin (D-SC) -- she turned to Garvin and posed: "Jim Clyburn accuses Republicans of creating Jim Crow 2.0. Is he right?"

The South Carolina state legislator declared, "Absolutely," and went on to claim that it feels like it's 1966 again. 

When Roginsky got to speak, she complained that Chief Justice John Roberts has long wanted to "gut the Civil Rights Act," declared that black voters are being "disenfranchised," and asserted that the U.S. is no longer a democracy: "And to have that state be so disenfranchised and those black voters be so disenfranchised is just -- it is astonishing that we are living in what is called a democracy, but clearly is not anymore."

Garvin further went over the top by claiming that his children will have fewer rights than their great-grandparents and that blacks may go 100 years without having a "voice." 

GARVIN: So you're talking about an over 100-year period where black folks in South Carolina did not get a chance to have a voice, did not get a chance to have a seat at the table. And now we are facing a situation where it might be another 100 years where African Americans will not be able to have a voice. And the sad thing about it, Chris, is that my generation, as a 35-year-old, my kids are going to have less rights than their parents as well as their grandparents and their great grandparents.

As no one acknowledged Senator Scott or other blacks who have been elected in majority white parts of the country, Roginsky cried racism:

ROGINSKY: And for anybody who says, "Well, you know, white voters can still vote for black representatives," come on. Come on. There's a reason why the Civil Rights Act existed -- there is a reason why you are now about to see a complete eradication of black power in Congress. It is precisely because of these kinds of places. White voters will not vote for black representatives. You could call it racism. You could call it whatever you want. I call it racism.

Chris Jansing was not "fact checking in real time." 

Transcript follows:

MS NOW's Chris Jansing Reports

May 18, 2026

1:34 p.m. Eastern

CHRIS JANSING: Today a dramatic warning about voting rights from one North Carolina state senator who told Politico the entire South is on fire. The latest example, South Carolina, where lawmakers today are launching into what is expected to be a long and heated discussion about new congressional maps. Republicans are looking to erase the state's lone Democratic seat that's held by civil rights icon James Clyburn.

(...)

JANSING: Jim Clyburn accuses Republicans of creating Jim Crow 2.0. Is he right?

STATE REP. KAMBRELL GARVIN (D-SC): Absolutely, Chris, and thank you for having me. We in South Carolina and the South Carolina House of Representatives are fighting regressive policies. And we've been doing that for, Chris, for the last couple of days, and we will continue to do that as well throughout the day and well into the night, Chris. What we see today and what we've been seeing throughout the South is an attempt to take us backwards. I have a quote that I often like to say, and that is that it's starting to feel more like 19 -- 1966 and not 2026.

(...)

JULIE ROGINSKY, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: You also have a Supreme Court where the chief justice has been working since the Reagan administration to gut the Civil Rights Act, and he's done it. And the reality of that means that black voters in the South who have been disenfranchised for the history -- the entire history of this country, who were given an opportunity to have equal representation back in the 1960s, now are going back to a time, as the representative said, that I certainly have never lived through, and I think most people in this country have never lived through.

It is a -- it is just astonishing what's happening. We're about to have no black people represented -- no black representatives, excuse me -- in South Carolina, where the black constituency is tremendous. I mean, Jim Clyburn is about to potentially lose his seat. And, as a Democrat, I will say South Carolina delivers the Democratic nomination every single time for every single Democratic candidate.

They did it for Barack Obama -- they did it for Joe Biden. They will do it again for the next Democratic President. It is much more important than Iowa and New Hampshire. And to have that state be so disenfranchised and those black voters be so disenfranchised is just -- it is astonishing that we are living in what is called a democracy but clearly is not anymore.

(...)

GARVIN: So you're talking about an over 100-year period where black folks in South Carolina did not get a chance to have a voice, did not get a chance to have a seat at the table. And now we are facing a situation where it might be another 100 years where African Americans will not be able to have a voice. And the sad thing about it, Chris, is that my generation, as a 35-year-old, my kids are going to have less rights than their parents as well as their grandparents and their great grandparents.

(...)

ROGINSKY: It is deeply concerning. And for anybody who says, "Well, you know, white voters can still vote for black representatives," come on. Come on. There's a reason why the Civil Rights Act existed -- there is a reason why you are now about to see a complete eradication of black power in Congress. It is precisely because of these kinds of places. White voters will not vote for black representatives. You could call it racism. You could call it whatever you want. I call it racism.

But the reality is the reality, which is that we are going to have many, many, many fewer representatives of color. We are not a white country. We're about to be a majority minority country. And yet our Congress, because of the design of the Republican party and, most importantly, the Supreme Court, which is obviously predominantly white, is making this a minority rule country that is about to rule the majority of the people who are no longer white. That is a massive problem. Look at your history. This is how empires collapse because democracy no longer exists.