Virginia Senate approves constitutional amendment for redistricting

The Virginia state Senate on Friday gave the green light to a constitutional amendment that would allow the Democratic-controlled legislature to redraw the map of the U.S. House of Representatives ahead of this year’s midterm elections.

The decision by state senators, following a similar vote Wednesday in the State House, was the final step needed to send the amendment to Virginia voters. If the ballot measure is approved this spring, the Legislature, rather than the current nonpartisan commission, would redraw the state’s congressional maps through 2030.

Virginia is the latest battleground in the high-stakes battle between President Donald Trump and Republicans versus Democrats to change congressional maps ahead of the November election. And Virginia Democrats, who currently control six of the state’s 11 congressional districts, are aiming to pick up as many as four additional left-leaning seats.

Republicans are defending their razor-thin House majority in the midterms and Democrats need a net gain of just three seats to regain control of the House.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) called Friday’s development “a critical step in giving Virginia voters the opportunity to ensure fair and equal representation in Congress.”

THE NEXT BATTLEGROUNDS OF HIGH-STAKES CARD COMBAT

Virginia lawmakers on Friday gave final approval to a constitutional amendment that would allow the Democratic-controlled Legislature to redraw U.S. House maps ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, file)

And accusing “Donald Trump and the Republicans of doing everything they can to rig the midterm elections in their favor through unprecedented mid-decade gerrymandering,” DCCC Chair Rep. Suzan DelBene argued that “Virginians – not politicians – will now have the chance to vote for an emergency temporary exception that will restore fairness, level the playing field and stand up to extremists seeking to silence their voice.

But the Virginia Senate Republican caucus accused state Senate Democrats of passing “a partisan gerrymandering amendment to consolidate their party in power.”

And the Republican National Committee (RNC) called it a “power grab.”

“This is just the most recent example of Democrats’ decades-long campaign to gerrymander every state they gain power,” RNC national press secretary Kiersten Pels said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “This is exactly why red states are fighting to level the playing field after years of states like Illinois, New York and California pushing their districts to disenfranchise Republicans.”

Stunning setback for Trump in redistricting wars

Virginia Democratic lawmakers have indicated they will release a draft map later this month.

And on Thursday, a Democratic-aligned nonprofit called “Virginians for Fair Elections” launched to urge voters to vote in favor of the redistricting measure.

In an effort to avoid what happened during his first term in the White House, when Democrats reclaimed the House majority in the 2018 midterm elections, Trump last spring floated the idea of ​​a rare but not unheard of mid-decade congressional redistricting.

President Donald Trump has urged Republican-controlled states to enact congressional redistricting before the November midterm elections. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The mission was simple: redraw congressional district maps in red states to strengthen the Republican Party’s razor-thin majority in the House and maintain control of the chamber in midterms, when the ruling party traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats.

Trump’s first target was Texas.

BIG VICTORY FOR TRUMP AS SUPREME COURT GREEN LIGHTS NEW TEXAS CONGRESSIONAL MAP

Asked by reporters last summer about his plan to add Republican-leaning House seats across the country, the president responded: “Texas will be the biggest. And it will be five.”

Republican governor. Greg Abbott of Texas called a special session of the state legislature, dominated by the GOP, to pass the new map.

But Democratic state lawmakers, who broke quorum for two weeks as they fled Texas in an effort to delay passage of the redistricting bill, have energized Democrats across the country.

Among those leading the fight against Trump’s redistricting is Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during an election night news conference at a California Democratic Party office Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Sacramento, after a congressional redistricting referendum passed. (Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP Photo)

In November, California voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 50, a ballot initiative that temporarily hijacked the state’s nonpartisan redistricting commission from the left and returned the power to draw congressional maps to the Democratic-dominated Legislature.

This is expected to result in the creation of five additional Democratic-leaning districts in California, in an effort to counter Texas’ decision to redraw its maps.

The fight quickly spread beyond Texas and California.

Republican-controlled Missouri and Ohio, as well as the swing state of North Carolina, where the Republican Party dominates the Legislature, drew new maps as part of the president’s efforts.

And Florida Republicans, in a move pushed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and state lawmakers, also hope to pick up three to five additional seats through a redistricting campaign during a special legislative session in April.

In a blow to Republicans, a Utah district judge late last year threw out a congressional district map drawn by the GOP-dominated Legislature and instead approved an alternative district that would create a Democratic-leaning district before the midterm elections.

And in December, Indiana Senate Republicans defied Trump, rejecting a redistricting bill that had passed the House of Representatives.

Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith announces the results of a vote to redistrict the state’s congressional map, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, at the Statehouse in Indianapolis. (Michael Conroy/AP Photo)

But Trump scored a big victory when the Supreme Court’s conservative majority gave the green light to Texas’ new map.

Other states that could enter the redistricting war are Democratic-dominated Illinois and Maryland, as well as two red states with Democratic governors, Kentucky and Kansas.

Looming over the redistricting wars is the Supreme Court, which is expected to rule in Louisiana v. Callais, a crucial case that could lead to the overturning of a key provision of the Voting Rights Act.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

If the decision favors conservatives on the high court, it could lead to a redrawing of a large number of majority-minority districts across the county, which would greatly favor Republicans.

But the question still remains: when the court will rule and what it will actually do.