Virginia Dem Rep. Beyer admits redistricting aims to stop Trump, not voters

A prominent Virginia Democrat appeared to admit that efforts by state Democratic lawmakers to redraw the commonwealth’s congressional map are more about stopping President Donald Trump and his agenda than ensuring fairness for Old Dominion voters.

A referendum drafted by Richmond’s Democratic majority and set to go before voters in April would allow the legislature to redraw Virginia’s congressional map in a way that Richmond Democrats say would attract four of five Republican congressmen and attract populations from most of the new districts in dense, left-leaning Fairfax County.

In comments to NBC News, Rep. Donald Beyer, a Democrat from Alexandria-Fairfax, appeared to concede the true purpose of redistricting while commenting on early voting numbers that appeared to lean in favor of the Republican Party.

Beyer said the redistricting effort is “by no means a done deal” and that Democrats must “effectively make the case that while it seems unfair in Virginia, it’s absolutely right for America, for those of us who believe that taking back the House is the most important thing we can do to stop Donald Trump.”

NEW DEM STAR’S QUICK TURN TO THE HARD LEFT AFTER ‘MODERATE’ CAMPAIGN EARNED HIS COVETED RESPONSE TO TRUMP: LEGISLATOR

Rep. Donald Beyer Jr., D-Va., attends a protest in Washington. (Tom Williams/Getty Images)

“Don said the quiet part out loud,” Virginia House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore, R-Gate City, told Fox News Digital on Monday.

“This is blatantly unfair to the Commonwealth of Virginia. We are a 51-49 state, not 90-10. If they are willing to silence almost half of the voters in the Commonwealth in the name of ‘fairness,’ what else are they willing to do?” » said Kilgore. Its legislative seat in the far Southwest would be in the only Republican-favored congressional district under the new map.

“Last November, Democrats sold Virginians a bogus affordability program that is false, a total hoax and a scam,” said Senate Minority Leader Ryan McDougle, R-Hanover.

“Now they’re back, trying to shove another partisan power down our throats, this time wrapped in the false label of ‘fairness,'” he told Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Beyer for additional comment and to Gov. Abigail Spanberger for her perspective on his admission.

5 VIRGINIA CONGRESS: DEMOCRATS REJECT VOTERS TO GERRYMANDER OUR STATE

Representative Don Beyer, Democrat of Virginia, speaks during a campaign event for Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., Friday, July 23, 2021. McAuliffe is bringing President Biden to vote-rich suburbs as he works to maintain a national focus in the race and tie his Republican opponent to former President Trump. Photographer: Oliver Contreras/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The text of the amendment that will go before voters next month asks whether the Virginia Constitution should be amended to allow the General Assembly to temporarily adopt new congressional districts to restore fairness in future elections.

The slogan “restore fairness” has become a clarion call for critics who assert exactly what Beyer seemed to admit: that the definition of “fairness” used is questionable, to say the least.

“Rep. Beyer said the silent part out loud. This is not about fairness, transparency or representation of Virginians,” said Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va. His Shenandoah Valley district risks being split into several pieces connected to Fairfax under the new map.

“It’s about political power and Democrats’ determination to rig the map to ‘take back the House.’ When Democrats admit that they are willing to defend an unfair process in Virginia in the name of national political power, it reveals exactly what is driving this effort, and it has nothing to do with the people they are supposed to represent,” Cline told Fox News Digital.

Five of Virginia’s 11 congressional districts would originate in Arlington or Fairfax counties and encompass meticulously drawn swaths of the state’s conservative interior, including a district ridiculed for its resemblance to a lobster or scorpion, as it begins at the Potomac River and winds southwest through Democratic suburbs before splitting into two halves. One half includes rural Greene, Rockingham and Augusta counties closer to West Virginia, while the other extends along the Zachary Taylor Highway to Goochland and Powhatan counties west of Richmond.

In turn, a Democratic-majority district would form, closely tying the independent cities of Harrisonburg, Staunton, and Waynesboro within Rockingham and Augusta counties and linking them through conservative areas like Nelson County to Lynchburg and Roanoke far to the south.

Beyer’s current district would likely become the new 8th and stretch along the west bank of the Potomac River to current Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va.’s, rural 1st District in the Northern Neck, bringing together nearly a dozen small red counties in the state’s oyster country anchored by the deep blue city.

The only Republican deemed safe on the map would be Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., in the far Southwest, which would become a majority Republican seat.

Rep. Jennifer Kiggans’ evenly split Eastern Shore and Hampton Roads district would attract just enough urban and suburban population to potentially turn blue.

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Since early voting began this month, signs reading “VOTE NO” have started popping up in several red counties threatened by the new map, including Culpeper, Shenandoah, Highland, Orange and Page, home to the Luray Caverns.

“VOTE YES” signs were, in turn, seen in rural Clarke County and suburban Prince William over the weekend.