{"id":564384,"date":"2026-04-04T16:10:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T16:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/564384\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T16:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T16:10:11","slug":"in-rural-virginia-excitement-and-dread-over-democrats-redistricting-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/564384\/","title":{"rendered":"In rural Virginia, excitement and dread over Democrats’ redistricting plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOUISA, Va. (AP) \u2014 Michael Shull never imagined that a Democrat from the wealthy suburbs of Washington would represent his community in Congress. His corner of Virginia, with its sprawling farms and winding country roads, has been electing Republicans for more than three decades. <\/p>\n

Then came an unusual nationwide redistricting battle<\/a>, with Democrats and Republicans redrawing congressional lines to boost their chances in November\u2019s midterm elections. Virginia could be next as voters consider a new map that would pair conservative rural areas with liberal suburbs, diluting Republicans\u2019 electoral clout. <\/p>\n

\u201cPoliticians should be elected to be their people\u2019s voice,\u201d said Shull, a Republican member of Augusta County\u2019s board of supervisors. \u201cNot their party\u2019s voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A truck driver stops to wave at members of the Madison County Republican Committee as they hold signs opposing the Virginia redistricting referendum, during the early voting period, Friday, April 3, 2026, in Madison, Va. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/p>\n

A truck driver stops to wave at members of the Madison County Republican Committee as they hold signs opposing the Virginia redistricting referendum, during the early voting period, Friday, April 3, 2026, in Madison, Va. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/p>\n

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The vote on the constitutional amendment is on April 21, and early balloting has begun. If voters pass the referendum and it survives a court challenge<\/a>, Shull\u2019s area within the county would be split between the 7th and 9th Congressional Districts. While the 9th District would be the state\u2019s lone Republican stronghold, the 7th District would resemble a lobster with the long tail beginning in Democrat-dominated Arlington and two claws reaching south into rural communities.<\/p>\n

Congressional districts are usually redrawn once a decade, but President Donald Trump<\/a> started a chain reaction last year by encouraging Texas Republicans to devise a new map to help the party in November. After a cascade of redistricting efforts, Republicans believe they can win a combined nine more U.S. House seats in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio, while Democrats think they can win a total of six more seats in California and Utah. Virginia could give Democrats an extra four seats \u2014 enough to overturn the GOP\u2019s slim majority, at least as things stand now.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about making sure that we fight back to what Trump\u2019s done,\u201d said U.S. Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., He said the party needs to persuade voters that the referendum is \u201cnot about embracing gerrymandering.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel optimistic, but it\u2019s close,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Kasey<\/p>\n

Kasey Griffin, right, and other members of the Madison County Republican Committee wave signs opposing the Virginia redistricting referendum at passing cars, during the early voting period, Friday, April 3, 2026, in Madison, Va. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/p>\n

Kasey Griffin, right, and other members of the Madison County Republican Committee wave signs opposing the Virginia redistricting referendum at passing cars, during the early voting period, Friday, April 3, 2026, in Madison, Va. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/p>\n

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A rural-urban divide<\/p>\n

The referendum comes at a moment when Virginia Democrats have tried to make up ground in rural areas. Last year, Democrat Abigail Spanberger campaigned for governor in oyster towns and agrarian hamlets<\/a> to engage with more conservative voters. Before that winning campaign, she had represented a congressional district<\/a> that mixed city suburbs, exurbs and adjacent rural communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone who\u2019s doing their job will be responsive to the communities that they seek to represent,\u201d Spanberger said.<\/p>\n

But her results were mixed. In counties where fewer people lived in rural areas, she outperformed Democrat Kamala Harris\u2019 Virginia showing in the 2024 presidential race by an average of 6 percentage points or 7 percentage points. In more rural counties, Spanberger gained about 2 percentage points to 4 percentage points. <\/p>\n

Democrat Anthony Flaccavento, former congressional candidate<\/a> and co-founder of the nonprofit Rural Urban Bridge Initiative, is torn over the referendum.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt some level, it feels like kicking the can down the road -\u2013 which is something that my party has done for a long time \u2013- when it comes to winning back rural and working-class voters,\u201d Flaccavento said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Members<\/p>\n

Members of the Goochland Democratic Committee Jen Strozier, Doug Mock, Chris Svoboda, Richard Grebe and Judi Sheppard hold a lunch meeting on future get-out-the-vote efforts for the Virginia redistricting referendum, Thursday, April 2, 2026, at GG\u2019s Pizza in Maiden, Va. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/p>\n

Members of the Goochland Democratic Committee Jen Strozier, Doug Mock, Chris Svoboda, Richard Grebe and Judi Sheppard hold a lunch meeting on future get-out-the-vote efforts for the Virginia redistricting referendum, Thursday, April 2, 2026, at GG\u2019s Pizza in Maiden, Va. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/p>\n

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A welcome change for some<\/p>\n

Democrats in rural areas who are tired of being outnumbered by their Republican neighbors are embracing the redistricting plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cFight Back, Vote Yes,\u201d said a sign at a No Kings protest in Louisa County. A second said, \u201cVote Yes. Stop ICE. No Kings.\u201d<\/p>\n

State Del. Dan Helmer, who helped spearhead the redistricting effort, greeted protesters and spoke to the cheering crowd. Helmer is now one of at least four Democrats running in the 7th District.<\/p>\n

Helmer said Republicans \u201cthink that in red areas like Louisa and in rural areas, that people don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on. But I\u2019m looking around right now, I see strong, proud patriots who know exactly what is going on, who know that we have an aspiring dictator who is trying to take away our democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jennifer Lee, who has lived in Louisa for 33 years, said she was eager to support the new district lines. Lee said she felt Republicans were perpetuating a double standard, falsely claiming the 2020 presidential election won by Democrat Joe Biden was stolen from Trump but accepting his push to eliminate Democratic seats through gerrymandering.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s their slogan, right? \u2018Stop the steal,\u2019\u201d Lee said. \u201cBut they started \u2018the steal.\u2019 They\u2019re stealing the seats now in all these districts.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A print edition of the Goochland Gazette, with a front page story on the Virginia redistricting referendum, lies on a table at GG\u2019s Pizza as members of the Goochland Democratic Committee Jen Strozier, Doug Mock, Chris Svoboda, Richard Grebe and Judi Sheppard hold a lunch meeting on future get-out-the-vote efforts, Thursday, April 2, 2026, in Maiden, Va. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/p>\n

A print edition of the Goochland Gazette, with a front page story on the Virginia redistricting referendum, lies on a table at GG\u2019s Pizza as members of the Goochland Democratic Committee Jen Strozier, Doug Mock, Chris Svoboda, Richard Grebe and Judi Sheppard hold a lunch meeting on future get-out-the-vote efforts, Thursday, April 2, 2026, in Maiden, Va. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/p>\n

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Democrats see a fight for survival<\/p>\n

At a town hall hosted by Democrats at a rural Goochland County recreation center, voters nibbled on finger foods and passed around bottled water as they debated whether redistricting violated some kind of moral code.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry, morality just goes out the door right now. We have to do what it takes for us to survive,\u201d said Bruce Silverman, a local nephrologist. He was voting \u201cyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

At one point, Roberta Thacker-Oliver stood up to talk. She votes in the rural 9th District, which would become even more Republican with the new map.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the redistricting, the 9th is going to become bigger and redder,\u201d she said, adding, \u201cI need to know what to tell my community about why they need to take one for the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do we tell them?\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

____<\/p>\n

Associated Press writers Maya Sweedler, Ashlyn Still and Joey Cappelletti in Washington contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOUISA, Va. (AP) \u2014 Michael Shull never imagined that a Democrat from the wealthy suburbs of Washington would…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":564385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[164749,51932,23,249796,249799,233880,136542,12,793,3138,245632,3319,5744,249797,3,111,12484,93880,249798,8638,795,3438,21,19,22,20,25,24,5148,8647,800],"class_list":{"0":"post-564384","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-2026-elections","9":"tag-abigail-spanberger","10":"tag-america","11":"tag-anthony-flaccavento","12":"tag-bruce-silverman","13":"tag-dan-helmer","14":"tag-don-beyer","15":"tag-donald-trump","16":"tag-general-news","17":"tag-government-and-politics","18":"tag-jennifer-lee","19":"tag-joe-biden","20":"tag-kamala-harris","21":"tag-michael-shull","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-politics","24":"tag-redistricting","25":"tag-referendums","26":"tag-roberta-thacker-oliver","27":"tag-u-s-democratic-party","28":"tag-u-s-news","29":"tag-u-s-republican-party","30":"tag-united-states","31":"tag-united-states-of-america","32":"tag-unitedstates","33":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","34":"tag-us","35":"tag-usa","36":"tag-virginia","37":"tag-voting","38":"tag-washington-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}