Tuesday night brought a win for Virginia Democrats, but two GOP members of the Fredericksburg area’s General Assembly delegation hope the state Supreme Court strikes it down.
Virginians voted in favor of a state constitutional amendment that calls for the redrawing of congressional boundaries before the federal midterm elections in November. The measure passed in a special election by a count of 51.45% to 48.55%, according to unofficial results from the Virginia Department of Elections.
The redrawing of congressional and legislative boundaries is usually done after the once-every-10-years census. But the Democratically-controlled General Assembly passed — and Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed — legislation earlier this year that allows the mid-decade redistricting if approved by voters.
The move, which Democrats cautioned was only a temporary fix, was the party’s response to efforts from President Donald Trump to create more Republican-friendly districts in other states as the parties look to square off in elections that will determine who controls the House of Representatives, which now has a GOP majority.
The redrawing of the congressional lines would take Virginia’s 11 districts, now represented by six Democrats and five Republicans, and create a situation in which Democrats would be favored in 10 areas and the GOP in one.
“We’re fighting to make sure that that margin in Congress is tight or better than what it is now,” Del. Joshua Cole, a Democrat who represents Fredericksburg and parts of Stafford and Spotsylvania counties, said after Tuesday’s vote.
In the Fredericksburg region, though, the “yes” side, which supported the redistricting, prevailed only in the city. In Spotsylvania, Stafford, Caroline and King George counties, “no” carried the day.
The mid-decade redistricting was first approved by state lawmakers late last year in a special session and then OK’d again this year.
And after this year’s General Assembly vote, a Tazewell County Circuit Court judge ordered legislators to stop the redistricting, arguing it violated the state Constitution.
Democratic leaders then appealed that decision to the Virginia Supreme Court, which hasn’t ruled on the matter but allowed Tuesday’s special election to proceed.
Del. Phillip Scott and state Sen. Bryce Reeves, however, believe the high court should nullify the redistricting amendment.
Scott, a Republican who represents parts of Spotsylvania and Orange counties, said that with millions spent on the “yes” side of the referendum, one almost would have expected a bigger win Tuesday.
And, he said, if more time had been devoted to the redistricting process, a different outcome could have emerged. The Democrats’ push happened in less than six months.
“I don’t think that was a very fair thing to throw on Virginians,” the legislator said.
The entire referendum process has never been handled like this before, Scott said.
“And I am counting on the Supreme Court to do the right thing and say this was done unconstitutionally because the Constitution says that no ballot measure shall be put before the voter less than 90 days after second passage, and we’ve had 45 days of early voting that went well into that 90-day time frame,” he said.
Only a small margin of victory for the “yes” side also may speak to the Supreme Court, said Reeves, a Republican whose 28th District includes part of Spotsylvania.
“That tells the Supreme Court that it wasn’t a blowout, and that the people really haven’t spoken, and that number reflects the makeup of the state,” he said.
The close outcome Tuesday means the Old Dominion is probably adequately represented by six Democrats and five Republicans, Reeves said, rather than by 10 Dems and only one from the GOP.
On the other side of the aisle, Spanberger, a Democrat, saw a much different view of the results.
“Virginia voters have spoken,” she said in a prepared statement, “and tonight they approved a temporary measure to push back against a president who claims he is ‘entitled’ to more Republican seats in Congress. Virginians watched other states go along with those demands without voter input — and we refused to let that stand. We responded the right way: at the ballot box.”
Cole noted that Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads and the Richmond area carried the “yes” vote Tuesday, and he said that’s because they’re the regions most impacted by what’s happened recently in Washington.
“The loss of federal jobs, the loss of government contracts, the loss of federal services,” he said, “and even in Southside, Southwest Virginia, which overwhelmingly voted ‘no,’ they’re still being impacted by the loss of federal services, too.
“But you mess with people’s jobs, you mess with people’s pocketbooks, this is what’s going to happen.”
