Virginia voters will decide Tuesday whether to ratify an unusual mid-decade redrawing of U.S. House districts, which could boost Democrats’ chances of reversing control of the closely divided chamber, as the state becomes the latest front in a national redistricting battle.
A proposed constitutional amendment backed by Democratic officials would bypass the state’s bipartisan redistricting commission to allow the use New congressional districts Approved by state lawmakers in this year’s midterm elections.
The referendum tests the Democrats’ ability to confront President Donald Trump, who began competing to manipulate states after his success in the elections. Urging Republicans in Texas To redraw congressional districts in their favor last year. Virginia will be the second state, after California last fall, to ask voters this question.
It also tests voters’ willingness to accept gerrymandering for political gain — and comes just six years after Virginia voters approved an amendment aimed at reducing such partisan gerrymandering by shifting the redistricting process away from the Legislature.
Even if Democrats succeed on Tuesday, the public vote may not be the final word. The state Supreme Court is considering whether the redistricting plan is illegal in a case that could render the referendum results meaningless.
Congressional redistricting typically occurs once a decade after each U.S. Census. But Trump urged Texas Republicans to redistrict before the November election in hopes of winning several additional seats and preserving the narrow GOP majority in the House of Representatives in the face of political headwinds that usually favor the party out of power. During the mid-term.
The Texas maneuver led to… Redistricting Explosion At the national level. So far, Republicans believe they can win as many as nine more House seats in newly redrawn districts in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio.
Democrats believe they can win up to five additional seats in California, where… Voters agreed And the redistricting effort in the middle of the decade last November, and another seat under the new court imposed Counties in Utah. Democrats hope to make up the rest of that gap in Virginia, where they can Decisively flipped 13 seats In the state Assembly and regained the governor’s office last year.
Leaders of both major parties see Tuesday’s vote as crucial to their chances of obtaining a majority in the House of Representatives in the fall. Former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, rallied with opponents of the measure Monday night, calling the redistricting plan “dishonest” and “brazenly deceptive.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters at the Capitol earlier in the day that a vote to approve the redrawing “would be a check and balance on the out-of-control Trump administration.”
He said he expected the elections to be close.
The back-and-forth battle over Florida’s congressional districts is expected to continue, with the Republican-led Legislature scheduled to meet April 28 in a special session that could yield a more Republican-friendly map.
In Virginia, Democrats currently hold six of the 11 U.S. House seats within existing districts imposed by the state Supreme Court in 2021 after a bipartisan commission failed to agree on a map based on the latest census data.
The new plan could help Democrats win up to 10 seats. Five are centered in heavily Democratic Northern Virginia, including one lobster-shaped that extends into Republican-leaning rural areas.
Revisions to four other districts across Richmond, Southern Virginia and Hampton Roads weaken the voting power of conservative blocs in those areas. A reshaped district in parts of West Virginia brings together three Democratic-leaning college towns to make up for other Republican voters.
Democrats said Virginia’s redistricting plan “contradicts what other states did in trying to rally support for Donald Trump in those congressional elections.” Governor Abigail Spanberger he said during an online rally last week.
Advertisements for the “Yes to Redistricting” campaign featuring former figures President Barack Obama It flooded the airwaves.
Opponents distributed campaign materials citing previous statements by Obama and Spanberger criticizing gerrymandering, but that was before Trump pushed Republican states to redraw congressional maps ahead of this year’s midterm elections.
Virginia Republican Party Chairman Jeff Reyer said Democrats “were all against gerrymandering before they were for it.”
Last fall, Virginia lawmakers approved a constitutional amendment allowing redistricting in the middle of the decade Passed back in January As part of a two-step process that requires staggered elections to place the amendment on the ballot.
And in February they did Pass the new American House map It will take effect pending the result of the referendum on redistricting. Republicans have filed several legal challenges against the effort.
A Tazewell County judge ruled that The redistricting push was illegal For several reasons. Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley Jr. said lawmakers failed to follow their own rules for adding a redistricting amendment to a special session.
It was ruled that their initial vote was not taken before the public began casting ballots in last year’s general election and therefore did not count toward the two-step process. He also ruled that the state failed to publish the amendment three months before that election, as required by law.
if State Supreme Court The lower court agreed that the results of Tuesday’s vote could become moot.
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Associated Press writer Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to this report.