The Code of Virginia says that “a map of districts shall not, when considered on a statewide basis, unduly favor or disfavor any political party.”
The language leaves “favor or disfavor” undefined, leading legislators and attorneys hired by the commission members to opine on how the commission could define it for themselves.
“During the last decade, there were 13 statewide elections. All 13 were won by Democrats,” said Senator George Barker, a Democrat.
Barker proposed a few ways of thinking of how to measure fairness based off of election results, including districts that vote for Democrats above or below a benchmark based off of state results.
Analysts have differed on the partisan lean of the proposed districts.
The Associated Press reported Monday that the map had the Sate Senate split with 20 going to Democrats and 20 to Republicans, using the 2016 election as a benchmark.
Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, received 50% of the vote to former President Donald Trump’s 44%. In 2020 that margin widened considerably, with President Joe Biden taking 54% and Trump winning 44% again.
The House of Delegates is held by Democrats with a significant margin, despite the districts being considered friendly to Republicans.
All of Barker’s proposals got down to a similar point: that when all Virginians have voted in the recent elections, more vote for Democrats than Republicans. The subtext is that since more have recently voted Democratic, it would be unfair to draw districts that would detract from that.
The lawyer for Republicans on the commission had a different opinion.
“It seems to me the language can't be read to mean, ‘Well, just because one party has received, you know, X percent of the vote or won X percent of statewide elections, districts ought to be drawn so that those outcomes are replicated going forward,’” said Chris Bartolomucci. He said it was important to apply neutral criteria rather than considering political.
“Has the commission adhered to politically neutral criteria in drawing district lines? Or has it engaged in efforts to help out one party or the other? I think the commission's work to date has been focused on following the neutral criteria,” said Bartolomucci.
Kareem Crayton, a lawyer for the Democrats, said “doing your best to kind of arrive at a judgment at the end of the process I think seems reasonable given the language.”
The debate is sure to come up more frequently as the commission votes to finalize maps. Their deadline for General Assembly maps is October 10th.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.