Virginia Democrats to attempt redistricting commonwealth's congressional maps

Virginia Democrats are planning to attempt to redistrict the commonwealth's congressional maps to help their party ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Don Scott, the leader of the state's Democrat-controlled House, wrote in a letter to colleagues Thursday stating the chamber will reopen an existing special legislative session Monday afternoon, NBC News reported. Legislators are expected to use the session to start the effort to draw new maps.

In Virginia, only the governor can convene a special session. However, Scott's letter shows that Virginia Democrats, who control narrow majorities in both legislative chambers, are using a loophole by reopening a special legislative session that was convened in May 2024 but never technically concluded.

"The House will meet to consider matters properly before the ongoing 2024 Special Session I and any related business laid before the body, in accordance with the Constitution, statutes, as the Rules of the House," Scott said.

The Virginia Democrats' plan follows Republicans in Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina who have redrawn congressional maps at President Trump's urging to help the GOP gain more seats in the House of Representatives next year.

Virginia is following California, where state Democratic leaders called a Nov. 4 special election to let voters decide whether to approve a new congressional map that could net the party up to five additional seats. In Virginia, Democrats currently hold seats in six of 11 congressional districts.

Similar to California, Virginia has a redistricting commission written into the commonwealth's Constitution, which Democratic lawmakers will need to go around to redraw the congressional maps.

To amend Virginia's Constitution, both legislative chambers must approve a measure twice, with a general state House election occurring between the two approvals. If Democrats can push through a measure to either bypass or eliminate the redistricting commission before next month's election, then they could vote again on a proposed amendment at the next scheduled session in January and send it to the voters, without needing Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin's approval.

Virginia Democrats will have just eight calendar days starting Monday to advance a resolution through the committee and floor process in both the House and the Senate. To pass the proposed amendment again after the election, Democrats would have to maintain their narrow control of the legislature.

House of Delegates Minority Leader Terry Kilgore said that he and his Republican colleagues would “use everything, legally, everything that we can do, to stop this power grab.”

He noted that Virginia lawmakers and voters just approved a constitutional amendment that created an independent redistricting commission five years ago.

"Nothing's wrong with our constitution, except someone from Washington, probably [House Democratic Leader] Hakeem Jeffries, has told them, 'Hey, we need to pick up some more seats for our Democrats, so can you all go back and renege on what we voted for a few years back,'" Kilgore said.

Youngkin criticized the Democrats' move on Thursday, and referred to the commission that was approved by voters in 2020, saying that, “Virginians spoke loud and clear when they codified nonpartisan redistricting into our state Constitution five years ago.”

“Twelve days before our statewide elections, this is a shameless, reprehensible political power grab by Democrat lawmakers desperate for anything to distract from the disastrous Democrat Shutdown and Jay Jones’ demented comments,” he added, referring to recently surfaced violent texts by Jones from 2022.

Republican gubernatorial nominee Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears' campaign spokesperson Peyton Vogel said regarding the Democrats’ plans, “This is what panic looks like. With just 12 days until Election Day, Abigail Spanberger and her Democrat allies have given up on talking to voters about real ideas and solutions.”