Virginia Voters Narrowly Pass Redistricting Referendum
Virginia Voters Narrowly Pass Redistricting Referendum
President Donald Trump’s scheme to gerrymander the midterm elections is on life support after Virginia voters approved a constitutional amendment that could give Democrats four new House seats in the state.
According to AP, the referendum narrowly passed with 51% of the vote. Should the state Supreme Court allow the referendum to stand, the Virginia Grand Assembly will pass through a map that gives Democrats a 10-1 advantage in the state. While a supporter of the redistricting effort, Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger has stressed that the amendment is only temporary, and control of the state’s congressional maps will revert to an independent redistricting committee in 2030.
“Virginia just changed the trajectory of the 2026 midterms,” Democratic state House Speaker Don Scott said in a celebratory statement. “At a moment when Trump and his allies are trying to lock in power before voters have a say, Virginians stepped up and leveled the playing field for the entire country.”
As of now, the Virginia vote gives Democrats a slight advantage heading into the midterms, but several factors could change that. The most pressing factor is a potential court ruling over whether the redistricting effort was legal to begin with. Under Virginia state law, any constitutional amendment must be voted on by the Grand Assembly before and after an election. State Republicans filed a lawsuit claiming that since the first vote occurred while early voting was underway, the redistricting effort is illegal.
A circuit court judge ruled in favor of the Republicans, though state Democrats appealed the decision. The case now sits before the Virginia Supreme Court, which chose to delay a ruling until after the referendum. If the state Supreme Court agrees with the prior ruling, the results of the referendum would be rendered moot.
Additionally, there’s the looming prospect of Florida undergoing its own redistricting effort. A special session is set to begin next week, during which a potential redistricting effort is on the table. While Florida Republicans may have been gung-ho about redistricting last year at the start of Trump’s push, in recent weeks, they appear to be uncertain if redistricting will actually help them.
Democrats have had several surprise wins in Florida over the last year, with a Democratic state legislator winning a special election in the district where Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort is located. As Trump’s polling continues to sink over rising prices and the unnecessary war in Iran, Florida Republicans are second-guessing hitching their midterm hopes to an unpopular, lame duck president. There’s also the fact that any redistricting effort in Florida would require a snap referendum that receives 60% of the vote. Considering that the midterm elections are less than seven months away, Florida’s redistricting prospects seem to be dwindling with each day.
But hey, no one would call Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis a reasonable man, so there’s all the chance in the world he’ll try to force a redistricting effort through regardless of whether anybody actually wants it.
Outside Florida, every state that could potentially redistrict ahead of the midterms has already done so. Democrats have gained 10 new House seats through their redistricting efforts, while Republicans have gained nine. The GOP holds a narrow majority in the House, with House Speaker Mike Johnson only able to lose one vote on party-line issues.
It was already looking like the GOP would lose the House last year, which is why Trump pushed for redistricting. As Trump continues to make life worse for Americans across the board, there’s an increased possibility that Democrats may take the Senate as well.
Just think, if Trump and the GOP spent as much time actually trying to solve the problems of working-class Americans as they did gerrymandering maps, they may actually have been able to maintain their grip on power. I’d say I hate to see it, but I don’t want to lie to you, lovely people.
SEE ALSO:
Virginia Voters Set To Decide Whether Redistricting Measure Passes
Maryland’s Redistricting Effort Officially Fails
Virginia Voters Narrowly Pass Redistricting Referendum was originally published on newsone.com
