Virginia voters narrowly approved a constitutional amendment to redraw the state’s Congressional districts in favor of Democrats.
The Yes vote came out ahead by about three points. That’s much closer than last year’s election for governor and the 2024 presidential contest in Virginia.
Democrats need three seats to take control of the U. S. House of Representatives, and the now voter-approved mid-decade redistricting could tilt the November election in favor of Democrats in four seats in Virginia. That could mean an end for the Congressional careers of Rob Wittman, Jen Kiggans, John McGuire and Ben Cline.
"This really quote-unquote sticks it to Trump and lets him know that he cannot operate as a dictator and that this is not a dictatorship," said Virginia State University political science professor Wes Bellamy. "He can't just do whatever it is that he wants to do. And I think that this will bring some balance to the nation as a whole and all eyes on Virginia."
In a written statement Tuesday night, Governor Abigail Spanberger said voters approved a temporary measure to push back against President Trump, who said he was entitled to more Republican seats in Congress.
"Virginians watched other states go along with those demands without voter input — and we refused to let that stand," Spanberger wrote. "We responded the right way: at the ballot box."
Mark Rozell, dean of George Mason University's Schar School of Policy and Government, said the results showed a stark divide between urban and rural.
"There was barely any exurban support for this measure unless we still consider Loudoun County an exurb at this point. So, it really brings out the divide in Virginia politics in a very striking way," Rozell said.
In her statement, Spanberger also said that she remains committed to ensuring Virginia's bipartisan redistricting commission gets back to work after the 2030 census.
But Rozell cautioned memories of what happed this week will linger beyond 2030.
"Consider when Republicans at some point in the future have power in Virginia politics and they too want to make a mid-decade constitutional change. There may be a tit-for-tat down the road," Rozell said. "And we're into yet again a really negative pattern of polarization in our politics"
Delegate Terry Kilgore, the Republican leader in the state house, said the results don’t mean the end of the fight, noting that a legal challenge is still pending before the Virginia Supreme Court.
"But the ballot box was never the final word here. Serious legal questions remain about both the wording of this referendum and the process used to put it before voters. Those questions have not been resolved...."
The justices of the Supreme Court of Virginia have yet to hear oral arguments in the case, and they could declare the amendment unconstitutional, a move that would keep the existing map in place.
Final written arguments are due later this week.
