Virginia redistricting campaigns have left voters confused : NPR
Groups on either side of Virginia’s redistricting vote used images of former President Barack Obama and Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger on their mailers.
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When Randi Buerlein arrived to vote at the start of Virginia’s redistricting election, she said she didn’t like what she saw.
“I look at this booth, and there’s a big picture of our governor saying, ‘Don’t be fooled,'” Buerlein said at his polling station in Hanover County, speaking of Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger. “She goes on TV every day to say: “Vote yes”. But they make it sound like she’s saying, “Vote no.” »
Virginia is in the midst of a contentious vote on whether to redraw the state’s congressional map, which would give Democrats an advantage in all but one of the state’s 11 seats. The new map could allow Democrats to win four seats in the House of Representatives.
Democrats won a landslide victory in the 2025 gubernatorial election, but Virginia is still a pretty purple state, and Tuesday’s redistricting vote appears to be a toss-up, even though the pro-redistricting side has overwhelmingly outperformed its opponents.
Voters say campaigns have muddied the issue, from conflicting mailers to a leading question.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson delivers remarks during a rally against Congress’s proposed 10-1 maps Saturday, April 11, at Dynamic Aviation in Bridgewater, Virginia.
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Even the names of the referendum commissions cause confusion among voters. Virginians for Fair Elections is the group that encourages people to vote for redistricting. Virginians for Fair Maps is against redistricting.
And then there are TV commercials. While the former president Barack Obama has appeared in advertisements encouraging people to vote yes this year, the anti-cutting TV spot published by Virginians for Fair Maps uses a 2017 video appearance by Obama speaking against electoral gerrymandering.
But the group’s campaign manager said it was Democrats who made things unclear for voters.
“All confusion has been created by disregard for court orders, misleading ballot language and hypocrisy by politicians. This ad simply serves to educate voters,” Finn Lee said in an email.
Similar ads highlighted Governor Spanberger’s 2019 comment that “gerrymandering is detrimental to our democracy.” This year, Spanberger supports mid-decade redistricting to give Democrats an advantage in the state. Virginia’s vote is part of a national fight sparked by President Trump last year when he encouraged Texas and other Republican-led states to redraw maps to benefit the Republican Party before next November’s elections.
The image of Trump has appeared on a billboard for the yes campaign financed by the Page County Democratic Committee, in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia. “President Trump says, ‘Take control of the vote,'” it reads: “Vote yes on redistricting on April 21.”
All this confusion could lower turnout, said J. Andrew Kuypers, a communications consultant and professor at Virginia Tech.
“The cumulative effect of all these tactics is really decision fatigue. People are going to experience that, and it’s going to favor the side that has greater resources and participation infrastructure.”
When it comes to early voting, however, the numbers aren’t far behind those from last year’s statewide elections, when Spanberger was on the ballot, according to figures compiled by the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project using government data.
Black silver
Adding to the confusion, it is impossible for voters to know who is behind all the campaign money.
Financing of black money groups501(c)(4), structured so that donors did not need to be disclosed, made up the bulk of campaign contributions on both sides of the issue.
The Justice for Democracy PAC, which sent voters anti-redistricting materials with images of the Ku Klux Klan alongside the text “They want to silence your voice,” received slightly fewer votes. 10 million dollars of Per Aspera Policy Incorporated, a 501(c)(4). The group has been active since 2021but his spending exploded during the redistricting campaign, raising questions about who is funding him.
U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, speaks to attendees at a rally in support of the proposed 10-1 congressional map on Sunday, April 12, in Henrico, Virginia.
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Virginians for Fair Elections, the group behind the yes vote, has received more than $64 million in contributions, mostly from groups that do not need to disclose their donors, the data shows. compiled by the Virginia Public Access Project. Two major donors include the 501(c)(4) Equity Project and House Majority Forward, a nonprofit organization linked to Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Virginians for Fair Maps, the group behind the no vote, received $19 million over six donations of its own 501(c)(4) – also named Virginians for Fair Maps.
“Campaign letters posing as ‘newspapers’”
Free publications of the electoral newspaper type Virginia Independent also hit mailboxes. They include recipes, health articles and positive coverage of the pro-redistricting campaign. The conservative online magazine, The federalist, called the Virginia Independentwhich is part of a nationwide media operation, “campaign letters posing as ‘newspapers’.”
The publication’s editor-in-chief, Joe Conason, says that Virginia Independent has content online since 2021 and release schedules vary.
“Every article we publish is fact-checked, our articles are reviewed by an attorney to ensure we are not violating 501(c)(3) rules regarding partisanship, and in every way, we publish a reputable news publication,” Conason said. “The Virginia Independent definitely has a point of view. At the same time, our goal is to really inform Virginians about what’s happening in the state.”
A disclosure on the publication’s website indicates that it is part of a 501(c)(4), American Independent Media. The organization’s board members include leaders from left-wing groups including labor unions, NARAL Pro-Choice America (now Reproductive Freedom for All), and Media Matters.
Similar posts were also active in Virginia’s 2025 gubernatorial race.
A sign for the “Vote No” campaign outside the Goochland County Parks and Recreation office on Saturday, April 11, in Goochland County, Virginia.
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The language of the ballot
In addition to the maze of unclear messaging around the campaign, Republicans say the ballot language itself is confusing.
The ballot question reads: “Should the Virginia Constitution be amended to allow the General Assembly to temporarily adopt new congressional districts to restore fairness in future elections, while ensuring Virginia’s standard redistricting process resumes for all future redistricting after the 2030 census?”
“Promising to ‘restore fairness’ is not a neutral framework. Complaining about someone quoting President Obama, or even Governor Spanberger, accurately? Glass houses and all that,” Virginia House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore said in a written statement.
“I know what I’m voting for, but it’s misleading on this issue,” said Casey Czajkowski, a Goochland County voter. “It’s going to get people to vote yes, 100%, just by reading the question.”
