Democrats maintained their electoral momentum on Tuesday by securing the passage of an aggressively gerrymandered House map in Virginia, which could deliver the party up to four extra seats as it tries to win back control of Congress.<\/p>\n
National party leaders had been heavily invested in the outcome, with Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the minority leader, helping orchestrate the statewide Virginia referendum with Democratic state legislators. Speaker Mike Johnson, hanging on to a slim majority, tried to rally the state\u2019s Republicans.<\/p>\n
Democrats sought to focus the campaign on President Trump, who instigated the nationwide redistricting fight last summer in Texas to help House Republicans in the midterms. A vote for a gerrymandered House map, Democrats argued, was a vote to help their party stop Mr. Trump\u2019s agenda. The president stayed out of the contest until the final hours before Election Day, when he urged Virginians to block the map.<\/p>\n
\u201cDonald Trump tried to rig the midterm elections by gerrymandering the national congressional map,\u201d Mr. Jeffries said in an interview on Tuesday night. \u201cHe has failed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here are four takeaways from the election:<\/p>\n
Democrats have fought to a draw in the clash over maps \u2014 for now.<\/p>\n
The vote in Virginia erased the small structural advantage that Republicans had built in the country\u2019s redistricting battle.<\/p>\n
Republicans could still seize back their edge, however, with the prospect of a new map in Florida. And the Supreme Court may well set off a political earthquake with a ruling that upends a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, which could lead to more Republican gains<\/a>.<\/p>\n But for now, Democrats have averted their fears from the start of the gerrymandering fight that Republicans could gain an overwhelming cartographic advantage. And with the political environment shifting in their favor, they are increasingly optimistic about winning back the House.<\/p>\n Mr. Jeffries, in the interview, made clear that he expected Democrats to claim nearly all of Virginia\u2019s 11 House districts.<\/p>\n \u201cIn November, we\u2019re going to win 10 congressional seats in Virginia and take back control of the House of Representatives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Republicans fell short, but gained ground in a blue state.<\/p>\n Democrats and Republicans were watching the Virginia election closely for any hints about the national mood before the midterms.<\/p>\n Both parties found bright spots.<\/p>\n For Democrats, a win is a win, and they are thrilled to pick up more House seats.<\/p>\n But Republicans were happy to not be blown out in a state whose last major election was not very competitive. After an ill-funded G.O.P. candidate lost the governor\u2019s race in November to Abigail Spanberger by 15 percentage points, the Republican side of the Virginia referendum kept the race to about a three-point margin<\/a> as of late Tuesday.<\/p>\n Republicans argued that the relatively tight result in a left-leaning state was evidence of overreach from a Democratic Party that is again building its political identity around opposition to Mr. Trump.<\/p>\n \u201cVirginia Democrats can\u2019t redraw reality,\u201d said Representative Richard Hudson of North Carolina, the chairman of House Republicans\u2019 campaign arm. \u201cThis close margin reinforces that Virginia is a purple state that shouldn\u2019t be represented by a severe partisan gerrymander.\u201d<\/p>\n Democrats attributed the narrow result to what they called a Republican effort to confuse voters. The \u201cNo\u201d ads included old footage of former President Barack Obama<\/a> and Ms. Spanberger \u2014 who both backed the referendum \u2014 speaking out against partisan gerrymandering.<\/p>\n \u201cThere definitely was a strong campaign on the Republican side spreading mis- and disinformation,\u201d Representative Suzan DelBene of Washington State, the chairwoman of the House Democrats\u2019 campaign arm, said in an interview on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n Democrats won with a belated focus on Trump.<\/p>\n