Virginia State Supreme Court Strikes Down Dem Redistricting Proposal

In a major loss for Democrats on Friday, the Virginia state Supreme Court rejected, in a 4-3 decision, the state’s recently approved redistricting proposal, which could have given Democrats four additional congressional seats, improving their chances of taking control of the U.S. House this year. 

The proposal, which was introduced as a way to offset the impact of the Trump administration’s mid-cycle gerrymandering blitz, was narrowly approved by voters in a special election earlier this month. 

The Supreme Court ruled that the process by which lawmakers moved forward the redistricting proposal violated the state’s constitution.  

“In this case, the Commonwealth submitted a proposed constitutional amendment to Virginia voters in an unprecedented manner that violated the intervening-election requirement in Article XII, Section 1 of the Constitution of Virginia,” the state Supreme Court’s majority opinion read. 

“This violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void,” it continued. “For this reason, the congressional district maps issued by this Court in 2021 pursuant to Article II, Section 6-A of the Constitution of Virginia remain the governing maps for the upcoming 2026 congressional elections.”

Election analysts underscored that this is a major victory for Republicans, though the political environment could still be a considerable drag on their midterms changes.

“This is a big blow to Democrats in the national redistricting fight, particularly when paired with the Callais decision that has given Republicans new gerrymandering opportunities,” Kyle Kondik, Managing Editor for the University of Virginia’s Sabato’s Crystal Ball, told TPM. “The overall post-Callais redistricting picture is still unclear, but Rs have an advantage overall now and they likely will add to that advantage as additional southern states pass new gerrymanders.”

“The House is more competitive now,” he said, “but I think the Democrats still have an edge, particularly if the political environment doesn’t improve for Republicans.”

For months now, Donald Trump has been bullying red states throughout the country to redraw congressional lines as a way to ensure that Republicans maintain control of the U.S. House in the 2026 midterm elections. Voter referenda in California and Virginia, paving the way for new maps in those blue states, slowed his progress. Today’s ruling is a significant setback for Democrats’ attempt to blunt Trump’s new maps. 

“It’s not a great look for this to be a 4-3 decision to overturn the will of the public, and it’s really not a great look to lecture Virginians about the evils of partisan gerrymandering without mentioning the larger national context,” Justin Levitt, professor of law at Loyola Marymount University, told TPM.

Democratic Attorney General Jay Jones, in a statement on Friday, said his office “is carefully reviewing this unprecedented order and we are evaluating every legal pathway forward to defend the will of the people and protect the integrity of Virginia’s elections.”

As of 2020, the authority to redraw Virginia’s congressional lines was reserved for the state’s bipartisan redistricting commission. The recently approved redistricting proposal, however, sought to change the state’s constitution and give the Democratic-controlled General Assembly the temporary power to bypass the commission. The new map was expected to give Democrats four more congressional seats, which would have meant that, in total, Democrats would have controlled all but one of the state’s 11 congressional seats. These new congressional lines would have remained in effect through 2028. 

Republicans challenged the Democratic-led proposal, arguing that Democrats violated  a number of procedural requirements in amending the state constitution.

Republicans argued, among other things, that there was an issue with the timing of the proposal, asserting that Democrats violated the state constitution by not holding an election prior to a required second legislative passage of the proposal. They further alleged that, in what they said was a violation of the state constitution, the proposal was submitted to voters less than 90 days after the proposal’s final approval. 

The plaintiffs also alleged that the Democratic-controlled legislature improperly expanded the scope of the redistricting special session.

Democrats argued in response that nullifying the proposal would contradict the will of the voters. 

“I feel like it would be patently unfair to override the people’s vote because of a concern that they had not gotten the opportunity to voice their opinion months earlier,” Virginia Solicitor General Tillman J. Breckenridge, argued before the state Supreme Court. 

An attorney representing Democrats, Matthew Seligman, also argued last month that the courts did not have the authority to enforce the alleged violations of the legislature’s rules. 

Back in January, a Tazewell County Circuit Court court sided with Republicans and blocked the redistricting proposal. In response, Democrats then appealed this decision and the case was sent to the State Supreme court. 

In February, the State Supreme Court ruled that this month’s referendum could move forward and that the court would consider the constitutionality of the proposal after it was concluded. 

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

Read the state Supreme Court’s decision below: