Political battle over Virginia redistricting heats up, attracting big names and big dollars
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) – The political battle over redistricting in Virginia is heating up, just hours ahead of early voting on a constitutional amendment that would reshape Virginia’s Congressional map ahead of midterm elections.
The Virginia Supreme Court moved Wednesday, March 4, to greenlight the statewide referendum, the second time it has delayed action on a decision until after Virginians vote. That means early voting will begin on Friday, March 6, preceding an April 21 election date.
“These issues are of grave concern to the Court,” the Court wrote of the legal charges in front of them. “But consistent with Scott, we offer no opinion on the ultimate resolution. It is the process, not the outcome, of this effort that we may ultimately have to address. Issuing an injunction to keep Virginians from the polls is not the proper way to make this decision.”
This is the latest development in the redistricting saga, in which Republicans have leveled a number of different lawsuits against what they’ve called the Democratic “power grab.”
Virginia Democrats, acting in response to redistricting in Republican states, are attempting to redraw Congressional lines in their favor ahead of midterm elections. That means gerrymandering the current Congressional distribution – six Democrats and five Republicans – to a map that would favor Democrats 10 to one.
In order to do so, Democrats have to amend the Constitution and override Virginia’s Independent Redistricting Commission, which voters created to try to prevent gerrymandering in a referendum back in 2020.
The most recent lawsuit, brought by the Republican National Committee and other Republicans – including 6th District Congressman Ben Cline – argued that the language of the referendum is deceptive; specifically, the phrase “restore fairness.”
“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?” the question reads.
But now, that’s exactly the question that voters will consider at the polls as early as this week.
Democratic Attorney General Jay Jones, who led the appeal against the Tazewell County Circuit Court’s temporary injunction in a lawsuit, called the decision a “big win.”
“If you read the opinion, you will see that they sort of cite longstanding tradition and precedent here, that stopping an election is not the way that we fix this problem,” Jones said. “We don’t want to silence people’s voices.”
The referendum is drawing in national attention and dollars, with former President Barack Obama releasing a video Thursday urging Virginians to vote yes at the polls.
“Several Republican-controlled states have taken the unprecedented step of redrawing their Congressional maps in the middle of the decade,” Obama said. “This amendment gives you the power to level the playing field in the midterms this fall.”
Virginia Republicans, though, tell 29News they see Obama’s message as a “red flag.”
“Why is Barack Obama sticking his nose in Virginia politics?” 38th District State Senator and Republican Bryce Reeves said. “He has the opportunity to pick up four more seats and help his good friend Minority Leader [Hakeem] Jeffries who has spent millions of dollars pouring into Virginia already.”
Under the Virginians for Fair Elections campaign, Democrats have raised more than $21 million dollars, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. That includes $10 million from a Democratic PAC called House Majority Forward and another $9 million from The Fairness Project.
“Donors coming in from California, New York, or Massachusetts that are trying to fundamentally redraw the map and change the political discussion in Virginia,” said Jason Miyares, the former Attorney General and one of the Republicans pushing back against redistricting.
He’s also the co-chair of the opposition group Virginians for Fair Maps, which has raised about $295,000 – a tiny percentage of what Democrats have raked in. There is currently no data available regarding fundraising for another opposition group, No Gerrymandering Virginia.
Though Miyares believes they’ll win the legal battle in the end, he says he’s confident voters will shut the amendment down first.
“Will we be outspent? Yes,” Miyares said. “There’s too much outside special interest money that’s on the left that’s going to come in. Are we confident that our messaging is going to work? Yes.”
Governor Abigail Spanberger also joined the final push to voters Thursday, with a social media post expressing her intention to vote “yes” in favor of redistricting and urging others to do the same. Though Spanberger has previously stated her opposition to gerrymandering in a 2019 social media post, she stated Thursday that the circumstances now are different.
“I supported the formation of Virginia’s bipartisan redistricting commission in 2020, and that support has not changed,” Spanberger said. “What has changed is what we are seeing in states across the country — and a President who says he’s ‘entitled’ to more Republican seats before this year’s midterms…Virginia has the opportunity to take action in response.”
Miyares, pointing to New York’s redistricting effort in 2024, says gerrymandering is not a new phenomenon and called Virginia’s effort to move to a 10-1 map a “breathtaking power play.”
“The head of the Virginia Public Access Project has said this would be the single most gerrymandered Congressional map in the entire country,” Miyares said. “This is disenfranchisement.”
Now, on both sides, the goal is getting their voters to show up – which isn’t easy to do in the middle of April, when Virginians aren’t used to voting.
“This is our chance to show not just Virginia but the rest of the country what we’re made of,” Jones said. “[That] the folks who we send to Washington, their power, their influence isn’t diluted because of what’s happening throughout the country.”
Of course, there’s a chance the state Supreme Court could decide that the redistricting effort is illegal, which would squander the millions already spent. 29News spoke with a legal analyst last month – more on that here.
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