To borrow a phrase from the Left, what’s happening in Virginia is “not normal.” The corporate news media has largely lumped Democrats’ scheme to redraw the Old Dominion’s congressional boundaries in with mid-decade redistricting efforts in other states. But that narrative ignores key distinctions that should alarm every American who cares about honest and fair elections, regardless of party.
Back in 2020, Virginia voters went to the polls and chose to take redistricting out of the hands of politicians by passing a constitutional amendment creating the Virginia Redistricting Commission (VRC). The amendment passed with 65 percent support. It won majority support in every county except one.
The result following the 2020 census was a map that largely reflected the political makeup of the Commonwealth: five “safe” Democrat seats, four “safe” Republican seats, and two competitive seats. Currently, the split is six Democrats to five Republicans.
By any objective metric, that’s a fair map. Democrats have won most statewide races in Virginia in recent years, but only by small-to-moderate margins. Republicans consistently win 45-48 percent of the vote and, as Glenn Youngkin showed in 2021, they can still win statewide if the political conditions and candidate are right.
But Democrats are now attempting to ram through an amendment to the Virginia Constitution that would abolish the VRC and create a map that would almost certainly result in a 10-1 Democrat advantage. Objective analysis shows that it would be the most extreme gerrymander in the entire country.
A majority of voters must approve of the amendment – reversing course from just six years ago – in a ballot referendum. Election Day is April 21, and early voting started on March 6. As voters head to the polls, this is the language they will read:
Question: Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to allow the General Assembly to temporarily adopt new congressional districts to restore fairness in the upcoming elections, while ensuring Virginia’s standard redistricting process resumes for all future redistricting after the 2030 census?
The use of the word “fairness” is a degree of doublespeak that even George Orwell himself could’ve hardly imagined. Democrats are telling voters that a “yes” vote would “restore fairness,” while a yes vote would actually make already fair maps as unfair as is mathematically possible.
Democrats’ clear intent here is to deceive voters, and survey data shows that underhanded effort is succeeding. According to a poll from Christopher Newport University, 63 percent of Virginians say they like the current method of redistricting – nearly identical to the 65 percent of voters who supported it in 2020. But the same poll found that 51 percent of respondents support the redistricting amendment. That number includes 34 percent of self-identified Republicans – even though the amendment is aimed squarely at reducing the number of Republican members.
The only logical explanation for this result is that more than a third of GOP voters – and likely many Democrat and Independent voters as well – are unaware of what the amendment actually does. Democrats are sowing confusion in a ploy to seize more political power.
To add insult to injury, Democrats have made “fairness” the buzzword for their entire campaign, urging Virginians to vote yes on the amendment. Former President Barack Obama even cut an ad repeating the lie.
Democrats’ line that their power grab is “temporary” is just as dishonest. While the amendment does include vague language suggesting that the VRC will begin drawing maps again after 2030, does anyone really believe that Democrats are going to willingly give up three or four U.S. House seats? If they succeed in pulling off this scheme once, there will be no incentive not to simply run the same play again and pass another amendment after 2030.
In addition to the ballot language, Democrats also appear to have violated constitutional provisions for passing proposed amendments. According to the Virginia Constitution, proposed amendments must pass the General Assembly, then a general election must occur, and then the same amendment must pass the General Assembly again before it goes to voters.
But Democrats passed the redistricting amendment in a special session last October – after early voting had already begun for the general election in November. By the time the amendment had passed, more than a million ballots had already been cast, violating both the letter and the spirit of the Virginia Constitution.
Additionally, there is a strong legal argument that Democrats didn’t even have the authority to pass the amendment last October in the first place. A special session of the legislature had been called to address budget matters. Under legislative rules, new subjects not related to the purpose of the special session require a two-thirds vote to be considered. That vote never occurred, yet Democrats advanced the redistricting amendment anyway.
Finally, Democrats appear to have violated a public notice requirement which mandates that constitutional amendments be posted at least 90 days before the election where voters will consider them. The amendment wasn’t even passed by the general assembly a second time until late January, and the ballot language didn’t become publicly available until mid-February – leaving far less than 90 days before March 6, when early voting started.
At this point, the natural question is: How haven’t the courts stopped this? The answer, unfortunately, is judicial cowardice.
Republicans mounted valiant legal challenges to all these apparently blatant violations of state law as well as Democrats’ dishonest ballot language. A judge in Tazewell County initially handed those opposing the referendum a major victory by blocking the April vote. But Democrats quickly appealed the decision to the state supreme court.
The Virginia Supreme Court, despite ostensibly having a conservative majority, punted on the issue. While the court did not rule on the merits of the Republican challenges, it did lift the injunction on the vote, allowing the referendum to proceed.
Essentially, the court said, “This election might be illegal, but we’re going to allow it to proceed anyway, and we’ll decide after the vote whether it was legal or not.” If the ballot referendum passes, the chances of the court then coming back and saying the election was actually illegal and effectively overturning the result are precisely zero.
In sum, Democrats violated the law multiple times to advance an amendment that gives themselves more power, and they are now actively lying to voters to trick them into voting yes – and no one outside of elected Republicans and conservative activist circles seems to care.
There are legitimate debates and arguments to be had about gerrymandering, but what’s happening in Virginia is a violation of the very foundations of democratic integrity and basic common decency. Texas and even California followed their state laws for changing the redistricting process. Virginia Democrats did not.
With just over a month to go until Election Day, it appears that it will be up to voters to stop this glaring attempt at election-rigging. The state courts have declined to weigh in, and any action on the federal side is unlikely. Even the White House and RNC seem largely uninterested in saving four Republican seats.
If Virginians want to stop this cynical power grab, they’ll need to get to the polls.
Shane Harris is the Editor-in-Chief of AMAC Newsline. You can follow him on X @shaneharris513.
