Virginia lawmakers advanced a proposed constitutional amendment that would support mid-decade congressional redistricting, setting up a voter referendum, according to the Associated Press. The state Senate voted in favor of the measure on Friday, following a similar vote by House Democrats earlier this week.
The Senate action came along party lines. Democrats backed the amendment as a way to allow Virginia voters to decide whether the state should redraw congressional map boundaries in the middle of the decade, the AP reported.
The redistricting plan would be submitted to voters without the map being immediately public. AP reported that lawmakers have said a proposed congressional map would be released by the end of the month, and that voters would likely be able to see the maps before voting in a referendum that is expected to occur in April.
Democratic Del. Cia Price, in remarks earlier this week, said: “Because this is a Virginian-led process and we’re asking for their permission, voters will be able to see the maps prior to their vote.”
The amendment would be limited in time and scope. If approved by voters, it would be in effect until 2030, and it includes trigger language so that Virginia lawmakers could redraw congressional maps only if other states took similar action, AP said.
The Senate debate over the measure included sharp exchanges between party leaders. Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell said that when Republican-led states “rig elections in their favor, our commitment to fairness that we made — that our voters made — effectively becomes unilateral disarmament.”
Republicans responded by arguing the approach goes too far and that gerrymandering is not the solution. Senate Minority Leader Ryan McDougle pointed to Indiana’s experience, saying, “Republicans in Indiana stood up to political pressure and said, ‘We’re not going to play these political games.’ And they stopped.”
Virginia’s current U.S. House delegation consists of six Democrats and five Republicans, AP reported. Those members ran in districts whose boundaries were imposed by a court after a bipartisan redistricting commission failed to agree on a map following the census, after a 2020 referendum sought to change Virginia’s constitution to end legislative gerrymandering.
The AP also reported that in January, Democratic Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger backed Democrats’ redistricting effort but did not commit to a particular plan. Spanberger said, “Ultimately, it’s up to the people of Virginia to choose whether or not to move forward with the referendum.”
The Virginia amendment moves within a wider national redistricting contest. AP said that after a plan proposed by President-elect Donald Trump last year pushed Texas Republicans to create more favorable districts, Texas, Missouri and North Carolina approved new Republican-friendly House districts, while Ohio enacted a more favorable House map for Republicans. On the Democratic side, AP reported that California voters approved new House districts and that a Utah judge adopted a new House map that benefits Democrats.
AP said some states have deviated from the pattern. Kansas Republicans said they do not expect the GOP-supermajority Legislature to consider redistricting this year due to insufficient House support, and Indiana’s Republican-led Senate defeated a plan that could have helped Republicans win all of the state’s U.S. House seats. The AP reported that it remains unclear whether other states, including Florida, Illinois and Maryland, will produce new maps.
The AP reported that the nationwide redistricting battle has so far resulted in nine more seats Republicans believe they can win and six more seats Democrats think they can win, leaving Republicans up by three. It noted that redistricting is being litigated in several states and that there is no guarantee parties will win the seats they have redrawn.
In North Carolina, where lawsuits have challenged a recently drawn U.S. House map, AP reported that late Friday, remaining portions of cases filed by the state NAACP and others were being dismissed, citing a court document. The AP said the three-judge panel had already refused in November to block use of the new boundaries for the 2026 elections.