S.A. McCarthy | The Washington Stand
A Virginia judge is blocking the state’s Democrat-controlled legislature from forcing a referendum on new congressional district maps ahead of November’s midterm elections. Democrats in the General Assembly approved a measure to place new congressional district lines on the ballot in April, in an effort to have them approved for the midterm elections and net Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives extra seats, depleting the GOP’s razor-thin majority. Chief Judge Jack Hurley of Virginia’s Tazewell Circuit Court issued a ruling Tuesday declaring the Democrats’ efforts to be illegal.
Hurley first rejected an argument advanced by the Democrats explaining the timeline of the redistricting measure before faulting the legislature for failing to follow its own established rules. A resolution adopted by the General Assembly at the outset of the latest special session declared that the legislature will only deal with bills relating to budgetary and revenue matters or the appointment or election of officials who are appointed or elected by the General Assembly. The only way that other legislative matters could be considered would be through “unanimous consent,” which was not achieved. Hurley suggested that the adoption and advancing of the Democrats’ new congressional maps “might well be in violation of the scope of business allowed in the” special legislative session.
“Certainly, both houses of the Commonwealth’s legislature are required to follow their own rules and resolutions,” Hurley observed. He noted that the vote to approve new congressional maps passed along party lines, failing to reach either a supermajority’s approval or “unanimous consent,” as demanded by the legislature’s own rules. “This blatant abuse of power by a majority IGNORES their own rules and resolutions,” Hurley emphasized, “thereby trampling ANY and ALL procedural rights of the minority.” The Democrats’ redistricting scheme was declared void ab initio.
The Virginia constitution requires constitutional amendments like the one proposed by the Democrats to be approved in two sets of votes. Hurley argued that any vote cast in favor of the redistricting measure following the 2025 election would count as the first vote, since early voting had already begun when Democrats approved the measure. Finally, the judge declared that the General Assembly failed to adhere to state law relating to a required 90-day notice period for constitutional changes prior to an election.
Democrats have been critical of Hurley’s ruling, suggesting that they may appeal the decision to Virginia’s Supreme Court, but Republicans have praised the decision. “I think that’s the right ruling,” said State Senator Mark Peake (R). “There are several other problems with the constitutionality of what they’re trying to do in this gerrymandering amendment.”
In comments to The Washington Stand, FRC Action Director Matt Carpenter hailed Hurley’s ruling as “an incredible rebuke of Virginia Democrats’ effort to redraw congressional maps. First, the court found that the General Assembly did not follow its own rules when approving the resolution to amend the state constitution to allow partisan redistricting during the special session.” He explained, “The court also ruled that since no new election for the House of Delegates has taken place — because the resolution was initially passed by the legislature during the 2025 election early voting period, and not after the election — any vote held during the 2026 Regular Session on a proposed Constitutional Amendment will count as the first vote, not the second, as required by the Virginia Constitution.” The veteran political observer added, “This means Virginia Democrats will have to wait until after the 2027 election to redraw congressional maps.”
“It’s ironic that Virginia’s 45-day early voting period — among the longest in the country and enacted by Democrats in 2020 — is partly responsible for the failure of Virginia Democrats to draw new maps. We will have to wait to see if the Virginia Supreme Court takes up this challenge, and how they view these facts,” Carpenter observed. “However, this is a good sign if you’re a Virginian and do not want the current legislature to draw a 10-to-one Democratic congressional map. Virginia has been trending from Republican to Democrat, but it is nowhere near a 10-to-one Democratic state.”
The Virginian judge’s ruling comes in the midst of a nationwide battle over reshaping congressional districts in time to impact the 2026 midterms. President Donald Trump last summer urged red state legislatures to consider congressional maps advantageous to Republicans, in a bid to bolster his party’s narrow House majority for the remainder of his presidential term. Democrats currently hold six of Virginia’s 11 congressional seats, but have discussed gerrymandering the state to leave only one of Virginia’s congressional seats in GOP hands.
SOURCE: THE WASHINGTON STAND
