The referendum, which needs a simple majority<\/a> to pass, tests Democrats\u2019 ability to push back against President Donald Trump, who started the gerrymandering competition between states after successfully urging Texas Republicans<\/a> to redraw congressional districts in their favor last year. Virginia is the second state, after California last fall, to put the question to voters.<\/p>\n It also tests voters\u2019 willingness to accept districts gerrymandered for political advantage \u2014 coming just six years after Virginia voters approved an amendment meant to diminish such partisan gamesmanship by shifting redistricting away from the legislature.<\/p>\n Even if Democrats are successful Tuesday, the public vote may not be the final word. The state Supreme Court is considering whether the redistricting plan is illegal in a case that could make the referendum results meaningless. <\/p>\n Virginia Democrats are following California\u2019s lead<\/p>\n Congressional redistricting typically is done once a decade after each U.S. census. But Trump urged Texas Republicans to redistrict ahead of the November elections in hopes of winning several additional seats and maintaining the GOP\u2019s narrow House majority in the face of political headwinds that typically favor the party that is out of power during midterms<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Texas gambit led to a burst of redistricting<\/a> nationwide. So far, Republicans believe they can win up to nine more House seats in newly redrawn districts in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio. <\/p>\n Democrats think they can win up to five more seats in California, where voters approved<\/a> a mid-decade redistricting effort last November, and one more seat under new court-imposed districts in Utah<\/a>. Democrats hope to offset the rest of that gap in Virginia, where they decisively flipped 13 seats<\/a> in the state House and won back the governor\u2019s office last year.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A person walks to vote in the Virginia redistricting referendum at Lyles-Crouch Traditional Academy, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Alexandria, Va. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/p>\n A person walks to vote in the Virginia redistricting referendum at Lyles-Crouch Traditional Academy, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Alexandria, Va. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/p>\n Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n Voters focus on fairness, with different perspectives<\/p>\n The stream of voters was steady Tuesday at a recreation center in the Old Town area of Alexandria, Virginia. <\/p>\n Matt Wallace, 31, said he votes regularly but this election has additional emphasis. <\/p>\n \u201cI think the redistricting issue across the country is unfortunate, that we\u2019ve had to resort to temporary redistricting in order to sort of alter our elections across the country,\u201d he said. Wallace said he voted for the Democratic redistricting amendment \u201cto help balance the scales a bit until things get back to normal.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n Sign up for Morning Wire: Katie Reusch, 35, said she thought the amendment was necessary to respond to the Republicans\u2019 redrawing of congressional districts in Texas last year: \u201cYou can\u2019t just say we\u2019re in power so we\u2019re changing things so we stay in power,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n But Joanna Miller, 29, said she voted against the redistricting measure, \u201cbecause I want my vote to count in a fair way.\u201d Miller said she was more concerned about representation in Virginia than trying to offset actions in other states.<\/p>\n \u201cI want my vote and my representation to matter this fall,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI Voted\u201d stickers are laid out on a table at Lyles-Crouch Traditional Academy on election day for the Virginia redistricting referendum, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Alexandria, Va. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/p>\n \u201cI Voted\u201d stickers are laid out on a table at Lyles-Crouch Traditional Academy on election day for the Virginia redistricting referendum, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Alexandria, Va. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/p>\n Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n That concern is particularly acute among conservative voters in the state\u2019s rural areas, many of which would be drawn into congressional districts that will be dominated by Democratic-leaning cities and suburbs.<\/p>\n Ruth Ann McCartney, voting in the town of South Hill, a few miles north of the North Carolina border, said she cast her ballot against the amendment.<\/p>\n \u201cI look at it more, not really in terms of Republican versus Democrat,\u201d she said. \u201cI look at it more as we don\u2019t have the population as northern Virginia. And as a rural area, we just need to be heard.\u201d<\/p>\n Political parties made a big push in Virginia<\/p>\n Leaders of both major parties see Tuesday\u2019s vote as crucial to their chances to win a House majority in the fall. Trump weighed in via social media Tuesday morning, telling Virginians to \u201cvote \u2018no\u2019 to save your country!\u201d<\/p>\n Former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, rallied with opponents of the measure Monday night, calling the redistricting plan \u201cdishonest\u201d and \u201cbrazenly deceptive.\u201d House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters at the Capitol earlier in the day that a vote to approve the redraw \u201cwill serve as a check and balance on this out-of-control Trump administration.\u201d<\/p>\n A committee supporting the Democratic redistricting effort had raised more than $64 million \u2014 three times as much as the roughly $20 million raised by opponents, according to finance reports filed less than two weeks before the election.<\/p>\n The back-and-forth battle over congressional districts is expected to continue in Florida, where the Republican-led legislature is scheduled to convene April 28 for a special session that could result in a more favorable map for Republicans.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A person votes in the Virginia redistricting referendum at Lyles-Crouch Traditional Academy, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Alexandria, Va. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/p>\n A person votes in the Virginia redistricting referendum at Lyles-Crouch Traditional Academy, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Alexandria, Va. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/p>\n Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n A lobster-like district could aid Democratic efforts<\/p>\n In Virginia, Democrats currently hold six of the 11 U.S. House seats under districts that were imposed by the state Supreme Court<\/a> in 2021 after a bipartisan commission failed to agree on a map based on the latest census data.<\/p>\n The new plan could help Democrats win as many as 10 seats. Five are anchored in Democratic-heavy northern Virginia, including one shaped like a lobster that stretches into Republican-leaning rural areas.<\/p>\n Revisions to four other districts across Richmond, southern Virginia and Hampton Roads dilute the voting power of conservative blocs in those areas. And a reshaped district in parts of western Virginia lumps together three Democratic-leaning college towns to offset other Republican voters.<\/p>\n The Virginia redistricting plan is \u201cpushing back against what other states have done in trying to stack the deck for Donald Trump in those congressional elections,\u201d Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger<\/a> said during an online rally last week.<\/p>\n Ads for the \u201cyes to redistricting\u201d campaign featuring former President Barack Obama<\/a> have flooded the airwaves. <\/p>\n Opponents have distributed campaign materials citing past statements from Obama and Spanberger criticizing gerrymandering, but those were before Trump pushed Republican states to redraw their congressional maps in advance of this year\u2019s midterms.<\/p>\n Democrats \u201cwere all against gerrymandering before they were for it,\u201d Virginia Republican Party Chairman Jeff Ryer said.<\/p>\n Virginia court weighs whether lawmakers acted illegally<\/p>\n Virginia lawmakers endorsed a constitutional amendment allowing their mid-decade redistricting last fall, then passed it again in January<\/a> as part of a two-step process that requires an intervening election for an amendment to be placed on the ballot. The measure allows lawmakers to redistrict until returning the task to a bipartisan commission after the 2030 census.<\/p>\n In February, they passed a new U.S. House map<\/a> to take effect pending the outcome of the redistricting referendum. Republicans have filed multiple legal challenges against the effort.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776788952_232_.jpeg\")
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