by Natalia Mittelstadt
Virginia Democrats plan to try to reapportion the Commonwealth’s congressional maps to facilitate their party ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Don Scott, Speaker of the state House of Representatives, wrote in a letter to colleagues Thursday that the chamber would reopen the existing special legislative session on Monday afternoon, This was reported on NBC News. Lawmakers are expected to employ this session to begin work on drawing up-to-date maps.
In Virginia, only the governor can call a special session. Scott’s letter, however, shows that Virginia Democrats, who control slim majorities in both legislative chambers, are exploiting a legal loophole by resuming a special legislative session that was called for May 2024 but technically never ended.
“The House will meet to properly consider matters prior to the ongoing First Special Session in 2024 and any related matters brought before the body, consistent with the Constitution, statute and Rules of the House,” Scott said.
The Virginia Democrats’ plan follows Republicans in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina, who redrawn their congressional maps at President Trump’s urging to facilitate the GOP win more House seats next year.
Virginia follows the lead of California, where state Democratic leaders have called a special election on Nov. 4 so voters can decide whether to approve a up-to-date congressional map that would give the party up to five additional seats. In Virginia, Democrats currently hold six of 11 congressional districts.
Like California, Virginia has a redistricting commission written into the Commonwealth’s constitution, which Democratic lawmakers will have to review to redraw congressional maps.
To amend the Virginia Constitution, both legislative houses must approve the measure twice, and elections for the state House of Representatives take place between the two approvals. If Democrats succeed in passing a measure to bypass or eliminate the redistricting commission before next month’s election, they could vote on the proposed amendment again at the next scheduled session in January and send it to voters without having to seek approval from Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
Starting Monday, Virginia Democrats will have just eight calendar days to pass the resolution in committee and on a vote in both the House and Senate. To pass the proposed amendment again after the election, Democrats would have to maintain narrow control of the legislature.
House of Delegates Minority Leader Terry Kilgore said he and his Republican colleagues “will use everything, legally, everything we can do to stop the takeover.”
He noted that Virginia lawmakers and voters had just approved a constitutional amendment that created an independent redistricting commission five years ago.
“There’s nothing wrong with our constitution, except probably for someone in Washington [House Democratic Leader] Hakeem Jeffries told them, ‘Hey, we need to win more seats for our Democrats, so can you all go back and deviate from what we voted on a few years ago,'” Kilgore said.
Youngkin criticized Democrats’ move Thursday and referenced the 2020 voter-approved commission, saying that “Virginians spoke loud and clear when they codified nonpartisan redistricting in our state constitution five years ago.”
“Twelve days before a statewide election, this is a shameless and reprehensible grab of political power by Democratic lawmakers desperate for anything to distract from the disastrous Democrat shutdown and Jay Jones’ demented comments,” he added, referring to Jones’ recently revealed violent texts from 2022.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, campaign spokeswoman Peyton Vogel, said of Democrats’ plans: “This is what panic looks like. With just 12 days until Election Day, Abigail Spanberger and her Democratic allies have stopped talking to voters about real ideas and solutions.”
Virginia isn’t the only state considering redistricting. This week, the North Carolina Legislature passed a up-to-date congressional map that gives Republicans another seat. In North Carolina, its governor, Josh Stein, a Democrat, cannot veto a up-to-date congressional map because of state law. Other states, including Texas and Missouri, are in the process of changing their congressional maps. Both congressional maps are seized in court.
California, Indiana, Nebraska, Kansas, Utah, Louisiana, Maryland and Florida are also considering it.
To comply with state law, Ohio will redraw its congressional map this year.
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Natalia Mittelstadt is a reporter for Just the News. Zachery Schmidt is a digital editor Star News Network and contributed to this story.
“Virginia Capitol” photo by Skip Plitt – C’ville Photography. CC BY-SA 3.0.
