VA Voters OK Redistricting Plan        04/22 06:16

   

   (AP) -- Virginia voters approved a mid-decade redistricting plan Tuesday 
that could boost Democrats' chances of winning four additional U.S. House seats 
in November's midterm elections that will decide control of the closely divided 
Congress.

   The constitutional amendment narrowly backed by voters bypasses a bipartisan 
redistricting commission to allow the use of new districts drawn by Virginia's 
Democratic-led General Assembly. But the public vote may not be the final word. 
The state Supreme Court is considering whether the plan is illegal in a case 
that could make the referendum results meaningless.

   The Virginia redistricting referendum marked a setback for President Donald 
Trump, who kicked off a national redistricting battle last year by urging 
Republican officials in Texas to redraw districts. The goal was to help 
Republicans win more seats in the November elections and hold on to a narrow 
House majority in the face of political headwinds that typically favor the 
party out of power during midterm elections.

   But the Virginia redistricting referendum could help nullify Republican 
gains elsewhere.

   "Virginia just changed the trajectory of the 2026 midterms," Democratic 
state House Speaker Don Scott said in a celebratory statement. "At a moment 
when Trump and his allies are trying to lock in power before voters have a say, 
Virginians stepped up and leveled the playing field for the entire country."

   Democratic Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who campaigned for the new map, 
quickly shifted her attention to the November election.

   "I understand the urgency of winning congressional seats as a check on this 
President, and I look forward to campaigning with candidates across the 
Commonwealth working to earn Virginians' trust," she said in a statement.

   Virginia vote is part of a national redistricting battle

   The redistricting in Texas led to a burst of redistricting nationwide. So 
far, Republicans believe they can win up to nine more House seats in newly 
redrawn districts in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio. Democrats think 
they can win up to five more seats in California, where voters approved a 
similar mid-decade redistricting effort last November, and one more seat under 
new court-imposed districts in Utah.

   Democrats hope to offset the rest of that gap in Virginia, where they 
decisively flipped 13 seats in the state House and won back the governor's 
office last year.

   Tuesday's narrow victory for Democrats contrasted with last fall's vote in 
California, where a Democratic redistricting plan passed by a nearly 29-point 
margin.

   "As we saw in California, when voters have a say, they are rejecting 
Republicans' attempt to rig the system," said U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, of 
Washington state, who is chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign 
Committee.

   Republicans pledged to continue the battle over Virginia's new map in court.

   "Serious legal questions remain about both the wording of this referendum 
and the process used to put it before voters," Virginia House Republican 
Minority Leader Terry Kilgore said. "Those questions have not been resolved, 
and they now move where they belong: to the courts."

   U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson, of North Carolina, who is chair of the National 
Republican Congressional Committee, said the "close margin reinforces that 
Virginia is a purple state that shouldn't be represented by a severe partisan 
gerrymander."

   The back-and-forth redistricting battle also could continue in Florida, 
where the Republican-led Legislature is to convene April 28 for a special 
session that could result in more favorable congressional districts for 
Republicans.

   Voters focus on fairness, with different perspectives

   The campaign over Virginia's redistricting referendum focused heavily on 
fairness.

   Republicans argued that it was unfair to gerrymander Virginia's districts to 
Democrats' advantage. But Democrats argued that they were creating a fairer 
election landscape nationally by counteracting Republican gerrymandering 
elsewhere.

   Matt Wallace, of Alexandria, said he voted for the Democratic redistricting 
amendment "to help balance the scales a bit until things get back to normal."

   But Ruth Ann McCartney, who voted in the town of South Hill just a few miles 
north of the North Carolina border, said she cast her ballot against the 
amendment.

   "I look at it more as we don't have the population as northern Virginia," 
she said. "And as a rural area, we just need to be heard."

   A lobsterlike district could aid Democratic efforts

   In Virginia, Democrats currently hold six of the 11 U.S. House seats under 
districts that were 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 as many as 10 seats. Five seats are 
anchored in the Democratic stronghold of northern Virginia, including one 
stretching out like a lobster to consume Republican-leaning rural areas. 
Revisions to four other districts across Richmond, southern Virginia and 
Hampton Roads dilute the voting power of conservative blocs in those areas. And 
a reshaped district in parts of western Virginia lumps together three 
Democratic-leaning college towns to offset other Republican voters.

   Democrats portrayed the Virginia redistricting as a response to Trump. Ads 
for the "yes to redistricting" campaign featuring former President Barack Obama 
flooded the airwaves.

   But opponents of the redistricting also distributed campaign materials 
citing statements from Obama and Spanberger, who had both criticized 
gerrymandering in the past.

   Virginia court weighs whether lawmakers acted illegally

   Congressional redistricting typically is done once a decade after each 
census.

   In 2020, Virginia voters approved a constitutional amendment meant to 
diminish political gamesmanship by shifting redistricting responsibilities away 
from the legislature.

   But lawmakers endorsed a new constitutional amendment allowing mid-decade 
redistricting last fall, then passed it again in January as part of a two-step 
process that requires an intervening election in order for an amendment to be 
placed on the ballot. The measure allows lawmakers to redistrict until 
returning the task to a bipartisan commission after the 2030 census.

   In February, they passed a new U.S. House map to take effect pending the 
outcome of the redistricting referendum.

   Republicans have filed multiple legal challenges against the redistricting 
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 the redistricting amendment to a special 
session. He ruled that their initial vote failed to occur before the public 
began casting ballots in last year's general election and thus didn't count 
toward the two-step process. And he ruled that the state failed to publish the 
amendment three months before that election, as required by law.

   If the state Supreme Court agrees with the lower court, the referendum 
results could be rendered moot.