Virginians voted yes Tuesday on a controversial redistricting proposal, allowing the General Assembly to temporarily redraw congressional districts ahead of the November mid-terms.
Northern Virginia voters swayed the vote. It was looking like the polls were leaning toward no as earlier results came in. Fairfax County’s results came in later in the evening and were heavily in favor of the measure. Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William, and Arlington counties all voted yes.
The ballot had only one question: “Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to allow the General Assembly to temporarily adopt new congressional districts to restore fairness in the upcoming elections, while ensuring Virginia’s standard redistricting process resumes for all future redistricting after the 2030 census?”
Gov. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat who began her term in January, celebrated the election results. “Virginia voters have spoken, and tonight they pushed back against a President who claims he is ‘entitled’ to more Republican seats in Congress,” she said in a statement posted on Facebook. “As we watched other states go along with those demands without voter input, Virginians refused to let that stand. We responded the right way: at the ballot box.”
Redistricting Background
Last year, the Democratic-controlled General Assembly passed a proposal to amend the state constitution to redraw the district lines ahead of November’s general election.
According to the voting patterns from last year’s gubernatorial election as provided by the Virginia Public Access Project, the current districts break down as five strongly Democratic, two leaning Democratic, and one tossup. Two lean Republican and one strongly Republican.
Under the proposed redistricting map, there would be five strongly Democratic districts, along with five leaning-Democratic districts and one strongly Republican district — essentially all of Southwest Virginia.
Not surprisingly, opinions about Virginia’s redistricting proposal generally ran along partisan lines.
Spanberger told Roanoke’s WFXR last month that she voted for the proposed maps because the change would be temporary. The redistricting committee will still redraw the maps yet again after the 2030 census. And she said the maps would be “responsive to this moment in time, where we have a president who has gone to other states seeking additional congressional seats saying he’s, quote, ‘entitled to them.’”
In a FOX News interview, former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin called the redistricting a “power grab” and said it was the “most gerrymandered map in America. It’s wrong.”
Some candidates, including former Virginia first lady Dorothy McAuliffe, have announced House candidacies in the anticipated districts. You can see the full redistricting map on the Virginia Department of Elections website.
Feature image courtesy Kendall Warner/The Virginian-Pilot/TNS
