An amendment to Virginia’s constitution that could see the commonwealth’s congressional districts redrawn in time for the 2026 midterms cleared its first hurdles Wednesday afternoon.
“We had to give the voters of Virginia the option to make a change if they so wanted,” House Speaker Don Scott told reporters after his chamber voted along party lines to advance a redistricting amendment that could give more of the commonwealth’s congressional districts to Democrats.
The Portsmouth Democrat repeatedly stressed the effort was put forth in the wake of other states redrawing their maps after President Donald Trump asked for more Republican-friendly congressional seats ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Scott stressed it didn’t change lines for General Assembly seats, and it will still require a majority vote in a referendum in the spring.
“I have a 16-year-old daughter. My daughter is gonna wake up one day as she gets older and she’s gonna ask ‘Daddy, in this moment, what did you do, how did we get here?" he said. "I want her to know we at least gave the Virginia voters the chance to stand up.”.
For their part, Virginia Republicans stressed the success of the voter-approved bipartisan redistricting process started in 2020. They also argued the rules change used to authorize the amendment vote violated the state’s constitution.
“Just to be frank, and I was frank on the floor, if you look at the lines proposed by some it would be very northern Virginia heavy and it would cause places like Richmond, Hampton Roads, other places like Hampton roads to lose representation to the North,” Republican Minority Leader Terry Kilgore warned.
Scott said they had not yet started considering new maps yet.
The amendment must still pass the legislature in the 2026 session. Democrats will have to maintain their majority Speaker Scott’s chamber after next week’s election as well.
Prior to the early evening floor vote, a series of tense meetings were held in both the House and Senate.
Procedural hurdles were the name of the game in the Senate where Republican Minority Leader Ryan McDougle, backed by Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, argued the special session, dating back to 2024, currently being used to move the amendment was illegally called.
"If it was the intent of the founders to have a full-time special session, they could have done that," he said. "The requirement of a 2/3rds vote in order to call a special session is consistent with my interpretation."
But Democratic Majority Leader Scott Surovell said both chambers agreed to the current session's posture in the past, and that included the ability to waive 2/3rds votes requirements.
"Nothing in the constitution limits the general assembly to subject matter specified in the governor's proclamation of the special session," he said, reading from a triste written by former Supreme Court of Virginia justice Stephen R. McCullough. He said, when Governor Glenn Youngkin called the budget session and the legislature preserved its status as on going, it gives them wide birth to act.
"The text of the proclamation does not set any limits on the subject matter of the special session," he added.
Notably, Earle-Sears tried to nix the vote on the rule change, but Democrats overruled that ruling.
But tension in the Senate was only matched when a House committee debated the proposal.
“I’m just wondering, for historical context, how many times we’ve had a temporary change for the constitution?” asked Henry County Republican Delegate Eric Phillips.
Phillips was referring to the short term change the amendment would allow, giving legislators, not the state’s voter-approved, bipartisan commission, the authority to draw new maps.
Committee chair and Newport News Democratic Delegate Cia Price responded:
“It’s the same number of times that it would have been that a sitting president asked other states to find seats with redistricting,” Price said.
Meanwhile, Delegate Rodney Willet, who’s carrying the amendment, defended the bill.
“Our hand has been forced here," Willet argued. "We certainly didn’t wake up a few weeks ago and think we were going to have to have this process, but what other states have done has forced our hand, forced this action.”
The committee approved the measure 12-9, moving it to the full House of Delegates. After about an hour of debate, the House approved the legislation on a 51 to 42 vote, sending it to the Senate later Wednesday.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
