In November of 2020, Virginia voters approved an amendment to the state’s constitution that would later create a 12-member bipartisan redistricting commission. This board comprises six Virginia legislators and former state judges. The board was created to ensure that Virginia’s congressional maps would be established with limited partisan intervention. Now, just five years after this constitutional amendment was approved by Virginia voters, Democrats in the General Assembly – Virginia’s state legislature – are pushing to amend the constitution once more for them to draw new maps that would add two to three new Democratic-leaning seats.
Democrats in the legislature reasoned that this effort was in response to President Trump’s push to influence Republican-held states to draw new maps in an attempt to gain Republicans more safe seats to limit the impact of the midterm elections on the GOP’s hold on the federal Congress.
Republicans, including Governor Youngkin and Lt. Governor Winsome Sears, have rallied against the bill currently being debated in Richmond, arguing that it is a partisan attempt by Democrats to turn their backs on the bipartisan constitutional amendment to create the bipartisan redistricting board.
Ordinarily, Democrats would not be able to convene the state legislature spontaneously, but in this case, General Assembly Democrats used Governor Youngkin’s May 13, 2024, special session, which they refused to formally adjourn nearly a year and a half ago. Speaker Don Scott of the Virginia House of Delegates tactfully used this to his advantage, issuing a call for legislators to return to Richmond for the continuation of the special session on Oct. 27. This process began with loose ends being tied up into a much more opportunistic knot for Speaker Scott, perhaps his greatest legislative accomplishment to date.
If voters approve the constitutional amendment, it would empower the state legislature to draw a new map without the consent or advice of the redistricting board. This would mean that Virginia’s First and Second Congressional Districts would be redrawn to include more Democrats, securing the two seats for the party.
As the maps currently stand, students districted for Godwin are within the boundaries of Virginia’s First Congressional District, which is held by Republican Representative Rob Wittman. Before Virginia’s 2021 redistricting, Western Henrico was in then Representative Abigail Spanberger’s Seventh Congressional District.
This effort to redistrict was a widely unexpected push and is certainly supported by Virginia Democrats’ sweep in statewide and state legislative elections, with Governor-elect Spanberger winning 57.3 percent over her opponent, Lt. Gov. Earle-Sears, who got 42.5 percent of the vote.
Most estimates saw Democrats winning about 58 of the 100 seats in the General Assembly, but Democrats seriously outperformed these expectations, winning 64 out of 100 seats, just three seats away from a supermajority.
This emboldens Democrats who have championed the redistricting effort, and it certainly helps persuade more weary Democrats who were more reluctant to give a thumbs-up.
Traditionally, Virginia Democrats have been known as moderates, which has sometimes disappointed unions and progressives in the state who have hoped for Virginia Democrats to take more action, but the party embracing an ambitious redistricting push certainly marks a pivot for General Assembly Democrats. Paired with landslide victories, this may mark a change for Virginia Democrats.
