{"id":205732,"date":"2026-04-22T04:39:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T04:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/205732\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T04:39:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T04:39:13","slug":"virginia-voters-approve-gerrymandered-congressional-maps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/205732\/","title":{"rendered":"Virginia voters approve gerrymandered congressional maps"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virginia voters narrowly approved a hotly contested redistricting referendum<\/a> Tuesday that could have massive implications for which party controls the House of Representatives after the 2026 midterm elections<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The aggressive gerrymandering measure<\/a>, which could net Democrats four congressional seats, passed in a 51% to 48% vote.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The referendum is expected to result in a dramatic power swing, potentially giving Democrats control of all but one of the state\u2019s 11 congressional seats next year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Virginia redistricting could result in Democrats taking control of all but one of the state\u2019s 11 congressional seats. Social Good Fund for Dave’s Redistricting<\/p>\n

Virginia\u2019s congressional delegation currently breaks 6-5 in favor of Democrats, but the new map aims to shift it to a 10-1 split.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Republicans have lambasted the bizarre district boundaries<\/a> in the new map as an attempt to silence conservatives in a state former Vice President Kamala Harris won with just under 52% of the popular vote in 2024.<\/p>\n

National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) Chairman Richard Hudson (R-NC) argued the close margin Tuesday night \u201creinforces that Virginia is a purple state that shouldn\u2019t be represented by a severe partisan gerrymander.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cVirginia Democrats can\u2019t redraw reality,\u201d Hudson said in a statement<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ballot measure sought to amend Virginia\u2019s constitution to give the Democrat-majority General Assembly temporary power to redraw the state\u2019s congressional district lines. AP<\/p>\n

The congressman noted lower courts \u201cruled twice to block this egregious power grab,\u201d before the Virginia Supreme Court allowed the referendum to take place while it considered the legality of the maps.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEven under this map, Republicans will hold our majority based on our record cleaning up Democrats\u2019 mess and a historic war chest to litigate the Democrats\u2019 failures,\u201d Hudson vowed.<\/p>\n

Ex-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and former state Attorney General Jason Miyares, who serve as co-chairs of Virginians for Fair Maps, praised voters for making the election a close one \u201cwhile going up against $70 million of out-of-state money and shamefully misleading ballot language intended to keep them silent.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Spanberger infamously said during her 2025 gubernatorial campaign that she had \u201cno plans to redistrict Virginia.\u201d Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite all odds, neighbors calling neighbors, homemade signs, and the support of grassroots leaders and donors across the Commonwealth brought us to within a photo finish,\u201d Cantor and Miyares said in a statement<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They added, \u201cVirginians disenfranchised by today\u2019s vote will have their day in court.\u201d<\/p>\n

President Trump rallied against the redistricting effort on Monday, warning the result would have \u201cmajor consequences for our entire country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll have one seat. At most, we\u2019ll have one seat. And we can\u2019t do that,\u201d the president said during a tele-rally with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), calling the measure a\u00a0 \u201cshameful effort to disenfranchise\u201d conservative voters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this referendum passes, Democrats will silence the voices of Virginia conservatives and push the same crazy radical left policies in Congress that [Virginia Democratic Gov. Abigail] Spanberger is now bringing to Virginia,\u201d Trump warned.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve been dealt a bad hand with this governor that you have,\u201d he lamented.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Johnson urged Virginians to get out to the polls to defeat \u201cthe most gerrymandered map in the country\u201d and \u201csave our Republican majority in the House.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The House speaker argued \u201cextreme Democrats\u201d aimed to \u201cwipe out four Republican seats all in one fell swoop for one reason: they want to stop President Trump and our agenda in its tracks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former President Barack Obama, who campaigned in support of the new maps, celebrated the result of the referendum on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cCongratulations, Virginia!\u201d Obama wrote on X<\/a>. \u201cRepublicans are trying to tilt the midterm elections in their favor, but they haven\u2019t done it yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks for showing us what it looks like to stand up for our democracy and fight back.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ballot measure sought to amend Virginia\u2019s constitution to give the Democrat-majority General Assembly power to redraw the state\u2019s congressional district lines.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the latest salvo in a redistricting war set off when Trump pushed GOP-controlled states to engage in rare mid-decade redistricting as a means of helping Republicans in the midterm elections.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Republicans will be defending their razor-thin House majority in the fall.<\/p>\n

Texas, Missouri, Ohio, and North Carolina have redrawn district maps<\/a> to favor Republicans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Florida<\/a> is also slated to pursue redistricting that could add GOP seats to the House.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, California voters approved new congressional maps<\/a> last November aimed at canceling out the potential GOP gains in Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s redistricting referendum is about one thing: President Trump\u2019s power grab,\u201d Spanberger wrote on X<\/a> before polls closed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLast summer, he said he\u2019s \u2018entitled\u2019 to more seats in Congress, and states across the country got to work to give him what he demanded,\u201d she added. \u201cYou can push back, Virginia. Vote YES.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Spanberger infamously said<\/a> during her 2025 gubernatorial campaign that \u201cI have no plans to redistrict Virginia.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Virginia voters narrowly approved a hotly contested redistricting referendum Tuesday that could have massive implications for which party…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205733,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[5340,858,153,416,12885,46937,7381,9,11,10,87,7316,58,418],"class_list":{"0":"post-205732","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-campaigns","9":"tag-congress","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-elections","12":"tag-gerrymandering","13":"tag-midterm-elections-2026","14":"tag-mike-johnson","15":"tag-new-york","16":"tag-new-york-headlines","17":"tag-new-york-news","18":"tag-politics","19":"tag-us-house-of-representatives","20":"tag-us-news","21":"tag-virginia"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}