Virginia Democrats show map to counter Trump redistricting but its future is unclear : NPR
The Virginia Capitol building last month.
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Virginia lawmakers unveiled a proposed map designed to help Democrats win four additional congressional seats in this fall’s midterm elections. The map follows the redistricting campaign launched by President Trump to try to tilt the midterm elections in favor of the Republicans.
The current Virginia delegation to The House of Representatives has six Democrats and five Republicans.
The map and accompanying legislation were posted on the Legislature’s website Thursday evening, and Democratic Senate President Louise Lucas confirmed it was the party’s proposed map.
“Donald Trump knows he’s going to lose the midterm elections. He knows that. That’s why he started this mess in the first place,” Lucas told reporters earlier Thursday. “Today we level the playing field. These are not ordinary times, and Virginia will not stand aside while this happens.”
But the proposal still has some way to go before it can be implemented in time for the 2026 midterm elections. In addition to legislative approval, redistricting also requires voter approval of an amendment to the Virginia constitution in a special election scheduled for April 21. Gov. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, has not yet approved the special election. She must act before 11:59 p.m. on February 11.
Currently, the state constitution gives redistricting authority to a bipartisan commission. The amendment would allow that commission to be sidelined because other states have already redistricted for 2026 — outside of the usual once-a-decade cycle.
Virginia House Speaker Don L. Scott listens to the debate last month as lawmakers propose setting a special election on redistricting for April 21.
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Democrats’ redistricting efforts are also being challenged in court. Last week, a circuit court judge in rural southwest Virginia said Democratic lawmakers failed to follow the law in the amendment process.
Democrats appealed shortly afterward, saying Republicans were “judicial shopping” to find a circuit judge who would rule their way. A Virginia appeals court asked the Virginia Supreme Court resume the case in a file on Wednesday.
Republican lawmakers argued that Democrats’ reasoning was not strong enough to warrant changing the state constitution.
“When I hear my good friends across the aisle say, ‘Hey, it’s nothing but a small thing. We’re just taking care of a small matter because the guy across the aisle is a bad guy,'” Republican Sen. Bill Stanley said as Democrats debated legislation setting the referendum date. “[When] we are changing the constitution, we are doing it very deliberately. And we do it for a reason, because it demands it as we move toward Virginia until the end of time. »
Republicans have a slight advantage so far in 2026 redistricting
Virginia is key to Democrats’ efforts to counter Trump’s push to tip the scales in favor of the Republicans in 2026.
Currently, the Republican Party has a majority of just a few seats in the House of Representatives, and maintaining that advantage would be important to Trump’s agenda and to avoiding Democratic-led investigations into his administration during the final two years of his term.
Usually, states redistrict at the beginning of the decade following the census.
But in July, Trump asked Texas Republicans to carry out a redistricting that could give them five House seats, now held by Democrats. Then California Democrats responded. Their map, approved by voters in a special election in November, could help them win five Republican-held seats.
Missouri, Ohio and North Carolina were also redistricted in favor of the GOP. Florida Republicans plan to conduct redistricting in April, when Virginians could go to the polls to vote on the commonwealth’s redistricting amendment.
Virginia Democratic Delegate Luke E. Torian, left, chats with Republican Delegate Terry L. Austin during a recent committee meeting in which lawmakers advanced the proposal to hold a special election on redistricting on April 21.
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Maryland Democrats are considering a map that would help flip the only Republican-held seat in the state.
But so far, Republicans have won two or three more seats than Democrats. Republicans have an advantage, in part because they control more state legislatures.
If Virginia’s plan makes it to the ballot, voters will be asked whether the state constitution were to be amended “to allow the General Assembly to temporarily adopt new congressional districts to restore fairness in future elections” while returning to the standard redistricting process after the 2030 census.
Jahd Khalil covers Virginia politics for VPM News.
