Virginia State Supreme Court Strikes Down Dem Redistricting Proposal

The Virginia State Supreme Court on Friday rejected, by a 4-3 vote, the state’s recently approved redistricting proposal, which could have given Democrats four additional seats in Congress, improving their chances of taking control of the House of Representatives this year.

The proposal, which was presented as a way to offset the impact of the Trump administration’s mid-cycle gerrymandering blitz, was narrowly approved by voters in a special election earlier this month.

The Supreme Court ruled that the process by which lawmakers advanced the redistricting proposal violated the state constitution.

“In this case, the Commonwealth submitted a proposed constitutional amendment to the voters of Virginia in an unprecedented manner that violated the interim election requirement of Article XII, Section 1 of the Virginia Constitution,” the state Supreme Court’s majority opinion states.

“This violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void,” the text continues. “For this reason, the congressional district maps issued by this Court in 2021 pursuant to Article II, Section 6-A of the Virginia Constitution remain the maps governing the upcoming 2026 Congressional elections.”

Election analysts noted that this is a major victory for Republicans, although the political environment could still significantly hamper their midterm changes.

“This is a major blow to Democrats in the national fight over redistricting, especially when coupled with the Callais decision that gave Republicans new opportunities for gerrymandering,” Kyle Kondik, editor of the University of Virginia’s Sabato Crystal Ball, told TPM. “The overall picture for post-Callais redistricting is not yet clear, but the Rs now have an overall advantage and they will likely add to that advantage as more southern states adopt new gerrymanders.”

“The House is more competitive now,” he said, “but I think Democrats still have an advantage, especially if the political environment doesn’t improve for Republicans.”

For months now, Donald Trump has been intimidating red states across the country into redrawing congressional lines to ensure that Republicans retain control of the House of Representatives in the 2026 midterm elections. Electoral referendums in California and Virginia, paving the way for new maps in these blue states, have slowed his progress. Today’s decision is a significant setback for Democrats’ attempt to blunt Trump’s new cards.

“It’s not a good idea for this decision to be made 4-3 to overturn the will of the public, and it’s Really it’s not a good idea to lecture Virginians about the harms of partisan gerrymandering without mentioning the broader national context,” Justin Levitt, a law professor at Loyola Marymount University, told TPM.

As of 2020, the power to redraw Virginia’s congressional lines was reserved for the state’s bipartisan redistricting commission. The recently approved redistricting proposal, however, sought to amend the state constitution and give the Democratic-controlled General Assembly temporary power to bypass the commission. The new map was expected to give Democrats four additional congressional seats, which would have meant that in total Democrats would have controlled all but one of the state’s 11 congressional seats. These new congressional lines would have remained in effect until 2028.

Republicans challenged the Democratic-led proposal, arguing that Democrats violated a number of procedural requirements in amending the state constitution.

Republicans argued, among other things, that there was a problem with the proposal’s timing, saying Democrats had violated the state constitution by not holding an election before a required second legislative passage of the proposal. They further alleged that, in what they considered a violation of the state constitution, the proposal was put before voters less than 90 days after its final approval.

The plaintiffs also alleged that the Democratic-controlled Legislature inappropriately expanded the scope of the special redistricting session.

Democrats responded that overturning the proposal would contradict the will of voters.

“I think it would be patently unfair to ignore the vote of the people because they were concerned that they did not have an opportunity to express their views months earlier,” Virginia Solicitor General Tillman J. Breckenridge told the state Supreme Court.

A lawyer representing Democrats, Matthew Seligman, also argued last month that courts lack the power to enforce alleged violations of the legislature’s rules.

Last January, a Tazewell County circuit court sided with Republicans and blocked the redistricting proposal. In response, Democrats then appealed that decision and the case was sent to the state Supreme Court.

In February, the state Supreme Court ruled that this month’s referendum could proceed and that the court would review the constitutionality of the proposal once it was concluded.

This is breaking news and will be updated.