Spanberger denies redistricting deal as Luria faces backroom deal claims

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger has categorically denied that an agreement was reached regarding the drawing of new boundaries for the 2nd Congressional District on the Eastern Shore and in Virginia Beach after former Rep. Elaine Luria was followed out of an event by an individual demanding answers.

Luria, a Democrat who previously represented the Second District, is challenging Rep. Jennifer Kiggans, R-Va., in a race considered “even” under the current map, but it would skew Democrats in the newly drawn boundaries that draw heavily liberal Newport News and the town of Franklin while carving out more moderate parts of Chesapeake.

Someone filmed Luria this week as she left a party in Hampton Roads and asked her twice, “Did you make a behind-the-scenes deal with your best friend Abigail Spanberger to redesign the neighborhood?”

Luria ignored the man, but the video spread on social media as observers raised questions, given the tone of the redistricting effort led by Senate President L. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth.

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Then-Rep. Elaine Luria sits on a podium at Congress. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Luria’s campaign has formally declined comment and Spanberger’s camp has categorically denied the allegation.

“There was no agreement,” Spanberger senior spokesperson Libby Wiet told Fox News Digital.

Meanwhile, Kiggan campaign spokesman Joe Link said the clip of the confrontation “speaks for itself”.

“Virginians should keep this in mind when they vote on April 21,” Link told Fox News Digital, referring to the special election date on the Democrats’ redistricting amendment.

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Lucas did not respond to a request for comment, but has spoken out online about the redistricting effort, mocking opponents like former Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., and insulting Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, saying it’s “f***ing over.”[ing]” what he would have started.

In January, Lucas took aim at Kiggans, suggesting she was intentionally trying to push her out of office. The 82-year-old progressive posted an image of Kiggans wearing a McDonald’s uniform and asking if a customer “wanted[s] fries with that.”

Virginia Senate President Pro Tempore L. Louise Lucas fired back at Sen. Ted Cruz for his criticism of Virginia’s redistricting campaign, saying, “You all started it and we finished it.” (Minh Connors/The Washington Post/Nathan Posner/Anadolu/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, across the Commonwealth, Republicans continue to express outrage over the new map presented to voters in an effort to “restore.”[ing] equity” on April 21, with the Prince William County GOP posting an image of their suburban county “sliced” into five pieces alongside an image of deli salami.

Prince William, Arlington and Fairfax counties appear to be the anchors of most of Virginia’s congressional districts, which critics say would remove, or even dilute, the 45 percent of the population that votes Republican or lives in rural areas.

In Rockingham County, which surrounds Harrisonburg and is in the Shenandoah Valley and is currently represented in its entirety by GOP Rep. Ben Cline of Botetourt, Del. Fairfax-based Dan Helmer was photographed campaigning for the newly drawn 7th District, according to the local GOP.

Helmer rejected claims that he also helped draw his own district, saying he was doing what Democratic leaders asked him to do by “electing a Democratic majority” in his caucus role, according to the Virginia Mercury.

Prosecutor Joe McNamara, R-Cave Spring, told the outlet he still believes Helmer “created[ed] cards for his benefit, and he’s just next.

“My role was to elect a Democratic majority two years ago so we could fight what Trump is doing and re-elect him this year,” Helmer told the Mercury in response. Helmer, the author of the state’s sweeping new gun ban, has already made two unsuccessful runs for Congress according to recent maps.

The Rockingham County GOP challenged its previous campaign promise to be a “voice for Fairfax,” implying, as in Kiggans’ district, that Democrats are intentionally drawing seats for themselves.

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“They have no shame,” the party captioned a photo of Helmer campaigning locally.

Former first lady Dorothy McAuliffe, who also does not live within the predominantly rural boundaries of the new “lobster-shaped” district, is also running for the seat.

JP Cooney, a prosecutor who worked under much-maligned special counsel Jack Smith, is the third Democrat to run for the new district, further increasing Republican anger at the process.

Earlier this week, Rep. Donald Beyer, a Democrat from Alexandria, admitted that his party’s redistricting efforts were aimed squarely at reprimanding President Donald Trump.

The comment sparked outrage from the right, including from Virginia House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore.

Kilgore, of Gate City in Scott County along the Tennessee border, represents one of the few areas made safe under the new map — if only because the aforementioned 45 percent of Republicans had to be herded somewhere.

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“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?” Kilgore told Fox News Digital.

His region is represented by Rep. Morgan Griffith, a Republican who brings together part of the mountain communities of Galax, Martinsville and Independence in the east to coal-filled Cumberland Gap, Wise and Grundy in the west.