Virginia rejects gerrymander push

Virginia voters approved a constitutional amendment on April 21 that lets the General Assembly redraw the state’s congressional map before the 2026 midterms. (apnews.com) The Associated Press called the measure at 5:49 p.m. Tuesday with about 97% of the vote counted. The ballot question asked whether lawmakers could temporarily adopt new districts and then return mapmaking to the Virginia Redistricting Commission after the 2030 census. (apnews.com) (elections.virginia.gov) Virginia now becomes part of a broader 2026 fight over House lines after states in both parties moved to redraw districts outside the normal once-a-decade cycle. National Public Radio reported the Virginia result could counter, and possibly surpass, the advantage Republicans sought through President Donald Trump’s redistricting push. (npr.org) (elections.virginia.gov) The amendment changed Virginia’s usual system, which voters adopted in 2020 to move congressional mapmaking to a bipartisan commission of eight legislators and eight citizens. Under the new language, lawmakers can redraw one or more districts before October 31, 2030, if another state also redraws outside the normal cycle and not under court order. (apnews.com) (elections.virginia.gov) The legal path ran through two measures in Richmond this year. HJ4 passed the House 62-33-1 and the Senate 21-18, and HB1384 set the April 21 special election after the House passed it 62-34 and the Senate passed it 21-19. (lis.virginia.gov 1) (lis.virginia.gov 2) The campaign around the vote was unusually nationalized for a state constitutional amendment. Axios reported lawsuits, heavy outside spending, conflicting ads and high-profile surrogates as Democrats and Republicans treated the referendum as an early test before November 2026. (axios.com) Democrats celebrated the result within hours. Gavin Newsom wrote on X, “November ends him,” tying the Virginia vote to the coming midterms and to Trump’s effort to reshape House maps. (x.com) Republicans argued the amendment opened the door to a Democratic gerrymander in a state where Democrats already control the governorship and both chambers of the legislature. Democrats argued it was a response to out-of-cycle map changes elsewhere and said the authority expires after the 2030 census. (thehill.com) (elections.virginia.gov) What happens next is more concrete than the rhetoric: the amendment authorizes the new map for the 2026 congressional elections, and Virginia’s commission gets the job back in 2031. The fight that started as a ballot question now moves to candidate filings and House races. (elections.virginia.gov)