On Friday, February 13, the Supreme Court of Virginia (SCOVA) overruled a lower judge and stated that an election about the redistricting of Virginia’s 11 Congressional seats can proceed.
Democrats, angered by President Trump’s urging GOP-led states to gerrymander their Congressional lines ahead of this year’s midterm elections, claim they are changing Virginia’s lines now to make elections “fair.” They see adding four new Democrat Congressmen from Virginia as a way to offset possible new Republican Congressmen from other states such as Texas, North Carolina, and Missouri.
Republicans, on the other hand, claim that what other states are doing should not dictate what happens here, and also point to a 2020 election where over 65% of Virginia voters wanted to ban political gerrymandering by the General Assembly.
Moreover, to make it harder to amend the Virginia Constitution, state law requires a full election cycle to pass between the General Assembly voting to put an amendment before the voters and the actual vote for that proposed amendment. And for full disclosure, the text of such proposed amendments must be made public at least 90 days before voting begins.
Detractors of the new maps point out that state Democrats, in their fast push to get the issue before voters, failed to meet the above two criteria, and thus the proposal is illegal.
On January 27, Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley in Tazewell County agreed with Republicans and called the Democrats’ redistricting scheme illegal and ordered it stopped.
Democrats appealed Judge Hurley’s order, which brought us to the State Supreme Court on February 13, ruling the election can go forward.
Complicating matters, though, is that SCOVA on February 13 did not rule whether the new maps are legitimate or not, but only that the vote can go forward as scheduled. SCOVA claims they will rule on the legality of the vote later.
However, they are not scheduled to hear the case until after the scheduled voting is over.
Specifically, the last day for the special election is April 21, but since the Democrats legalized early voting a few years ago, early voting begins March 6.
So in essence, millions of Virginians will be going to the polls to vote for something that, according to SCOVA, may or may not even be legal.
If Virginia voters actually approve the proposal, how could the SCOVA realistically then claim the whole exercise was illegal, and nullify all who had recently voted for it? And how could SCOVA also justify the same $5 million the single special election will cost, if it was illegal in the first place?
Each state has seats in the US House of Representatives based on that state’s population. Since Virginia has over 8 million residents, we have 11 Congressional seats.
The current districts are six Democrat and five Republican. This reflects how Virginia is a closely divided state politically, with a narrow Democrat advantage. For example, in 2024, Kamala won the Old Dominion with 51.8% compared to Trump’s 46.6%.
Gerrymandering is a distasteful yet widely used political tool whereby political boundary lines, by including some groups but excluding others, can heavily influence how an election will turn out.
Showing how many people dislike gerrymandering, Virginians recently voted to ban it. Question 1 on the 2020 Virginia ballot called for an independent, nonpartisan commission, not politicians in the General Assembly, to draw future lines. Question 1 passed by a landslide, 65.6% to 34.3%. In fact, Question 1 won the majority vote in every Virginia locality with the sole exception of Arlington.
Specifically, 2,770,489 Virginia voters approved Question 1, the 65.6%. That’s why, SCOVA’s February 13 willingness to let the new vote proceed is an active nullification of that 2020 election and a disenfranchisement of those nearly 2.8 million Virginians who voted to ban gerrymandering.
The proposed new lines, with very strategic gerrymandering, may likely eliminate four Republican Congressional seats from the Old Dominion and replace the current 5:6 split with 10 Democrats to 1 Republican. In other words, 91% of the Congressmen from Virginia may be Democrats, even though our state politically is nowhere near that lopsided.
Speaker of the House of Delegates Don Scott (D-Portsmouth) hailed the State Supreme Court’s green light: “The fact that they said in their order, which is unusual, that this order, this decision, in no way impacts their ability for us to hold an election, tells you everything you need to know.”
Below is a February 13 statement from Jeff Ryer, the newly elected Chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, who blasted the Court’s opinion.
“Dear Fellow Virginia Republicans:
“Today, the Supreme Court of Virginia declined to block Democrats’ illegal and unconstitutional gerrymandering amendment from appearing on the April ballot. Declining to halt this blatant power grab, the Court has chosen to punt, allowing the referendum to proceed and leaving it to the voters to decide.
“Now, all of our attention must immediately turn to the existential battle before us.
“We must be clear about what’s happening.
“Virginia Democrats are attempting to rewrite the rules in the middle of the game to entrench themselves in power. They are dishonestly and deceptively claiming that their scheme is about “fairness,” when in reality it is specifically designed to disenfranchise nearly every Virginian who voted for President Trump. Their overarching goal is to make Virginia Republicans irrelevant.
“Their amendment will rig our congressional maps, override the will of two-thirds of Virginia voters who demanded fair redistricting in 2020, and cement one-party control in Washington. They want to give themselves control over 91% of our congressional seats with just 50% of the vote.
“Despicably, they are asking voters to effectively disenfranchise their fellow citizens by approving rigged maps that will give disproportionate power to just a few densely populated urban cores. If their rigged maps pass, millions of Virginians would be ignored and forgotten by Democrats who only care about appeasing urban elites.
“If the courts will not stop this unconstitutional scheme, we must at the ballot box.
“This is a moment for total unity and total engagement. Every unit must treat this referendum as a top-tier priority. Every Virginia Republican must be activated, informed, and mobilized. We cannot allow confusion, complacency, or fatigue to set in. Democrats are counting on low turnout and silence. We must give them neither.
“We will be rolling out messaging guidance, talking points, and voter education materials to assist you in communicating the stakes clearly and forcefully. Our message is simple: this amendment is a partisan power grab that undermines the Virginia Constitution, subverts democracy, and betrays the will of the people.
“We must take this argument directly to our grassroots: our volunteers, donors, activists, church leaders, and neighbors. Make calls. Host meetings. Push digital communications. Write letters to the editor. Engage on social media. Turn every unit into an organizing hub.
“We have won tough fights before because we were organized, disciplined, and relentless. This will be no different. If we stand shoulder-to-shoulder and execute, we will prevail and protect the integrity of our Commonwealth.
“We fight. We organize. We win.”
You can learn more about how to register to vote in Virginia here.
– Scott Dreyer
