‘Democracy backwards’; Democrats scramble to redraw Virginia voting maps amid Trump threats

Andrew Kerley, Executive Editor

Democrats called the Virginia General Assembly back on Monday for a special session to redraw the state’s congressional districts and give themselves an upper edge in winning more seats in the United States House of Representatives. 

The effort mirrors those by legislators in California to offset additional seats Republicans may gain in the House as President Donald Trump pressures Texas and other Republican-leaning states to redistrict.

Democrats will have to work through numerous votes and legal technicalities to successfully redistrict in Virginia ahead of the 2026 midterm congressional elections, which they are currently favored to win a majority in. 

Virginia has 11 congressional seats. Six are held by Democrats and five are held by Republicans, but nearly all of them could be turned blue if efforts are successful.

What is ‘gerrymandering’?

Gerrymandering is the process of legislators redrawing maps to give their respective parties the upper hand. They do so by either redistributing voters they do not favor between multiple split districts, or packing other voters into one safe district. Both major parties have been guilty of the practice.

Virginia has a history of gerrymandering dating back to the post-Civil War Reconstruction Era, when lawmakers used the practice to keep Black voters from gaining representation in Congress.

The practice was effectively outlawed in 2020 when lawmakers amended the Virginia constitution to leave redistricting up to a nonpartisan commission — which Virginians overwhelmingly approved through a ballot referendum, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. 

The current fight over voting maps began in July when Trump pressured Texas to redraw their districts ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, according to the Associated Press. Other Republican-leaning states have since done the same — spurring Democrats to “fight fire with fire.”

Redistricting requires amending Virginia’s constitution

In order to repeal the constitutional amendment that gave sole authority over redistricting to Virginia’s nonpartisan commission ahead of midterms, Democrats will have to pass a new amendment within months. They currently hold majorities in both chambers of the General Assembly, and will have to maintain their numbers in the House of Delegates through the November 2025 election.

An amendment to the Virginia constitution must pass the General Assembly twice between two different sessions before it is left up to voters in a statewide referendum, according to state law.

The General Assembly typically only meets at the beginning of the year, and the 2025 session has already passed. Their recent flock to Richmond was based on a technicality — a special session from 2024 that never technically adjourned.

By holding a vote this fall, and then again in the 2026 session, lawmakers could meet the two vote threshold to hold a referendum — which must occur no sooner than 90 days after the amendment is approved by the General Assembly. 

If Democrats are successful, a referendum could be held as early as April, just two months before parties will hold primary elections for their 2026 congressional nominees. 

Del. Rodney Willet, D-Henrico, is carrying Democrats’ proposed amendment. It will not abolish the Virginia Redistricting Commission, but instead give the General Assembly authority to redistrict only in the event that other states conduct redistricting outside of their standard cycles for any purpose other than complying with a state or federal court order that remedy an unlawfully drawn map — like what Americans are experiencing now. 

No proposed maps have been publicized, but in an X post, Senate President Pro Tempore Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, mused the creation of a map in which 10 out of Virginia’s 11 congressional districts favor Democrats. 

Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, said during a Senate session on Tuesday that their efforts were less about partisan differences, and more about the future of America. 

“I want my kids to experience the same democracy I have,” Surovell said. 

All five of Virginia’s Republican congressional representatives held a press conference on Monday to denounce Democrats’ actions. 

Ninth District Rep. Morgan Griffith served as a delegate for nearly two decades before becoming a member of congress. He said Democrats’ efforts to redistrict will undo the will of voters. 

“I was a part of partisan redistricting, and the voters of Virginia spoke in 2020 that they didn’t like that happening,” Griffith said. 

Sixth District Rep. Ben Cline said what Democratic congressional leaders Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-NY, and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, are doing to Virginia is “scandalous.” 

“It’s my hope the voters of Virginia will reach out to their legislators, let them know they don’t want gerrymandering back in Virginia,” Cline said. “They don’t want politics to rule when it comes to redrawing our district lines.” 

America inches toward all-out redistricting battle

Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Utah are among states where legislators have taken serious steps to redistrict to increase Republicans’ favor, per Trump’s requests. Virginia is the only Democratic-leaning state to have taken up similar measures after California — though other states are considering doing the same.

Just before Virginia Scope initially reported rumors of the special session, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee donated $150,000 each to the House Democratic Caucus and Abigail Spanberger’s campaign for governor, according to VPAP.

VCU associate political science professor John Aughenbaugh said redistricting is a “double edged sword” for Democrats, because even if they pass a resolution twice, the referendum to create the nonpartisan commission was popular with Virginians in 2020. 

“It is risky, but if you think the greater enemy is President Trump and him having a majority in the House of Representatives, and this is their thinking, Donald Trump and the Republican Party is a greater enemy to Democracy than hyperpartisan gerrymandering in response,” Aughenbaugh said. 

Redistricting battles across state lines could lead Americans to an end point of hyperpartisan map drawings that deprive minority voters of representation in Congress, according to Aughenbaugh. States like New York have plenty of Republicans, and states like North Carolina have plenty of Democrats, but those numbers are not reflected by their congressional representatives. 

Some Republican states are preparing to redraw their district lines on the chance the Supreme Court repeals section two of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which prohibits voting practices or procedures that discriminate on the basis of race, color or membership. 

“This is Democracy backwards,” Augenbaugh said. “Voters should be picking their candidates, instead of parties and their candidates picking their voters.”