The Virginia ruling advances a Democratic redistricting push framed by the party as a response to President Donald Trump’s mid-decade remapping campaign, which Republicans have pursued in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio in an effort to preserve the GOP’s narrow House majority.
Virginia’s Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a statewide referendum on a Democratic-led congressional redistricting plan can proceed as scheduled on April 21, overturning a temporary restraining order issued by a Tazewell County judge and allowing early voting to begin as soon as Friday.
The court said it has not yet ruled on whether the mid-decade redistricting effort is constitutional. The ruling means the April vote could be rendered moot if the justices ultimately uphold the lower court decision blocking the effort.
“It is the process, not the outcome, of this effort that we may ultimately have to address,” the court wrote. “Issuing an injunction to keep Virginians from the polls is not the proper way to make this decision.”
Virginia Democrats released a new congressional map in February that they say would give the party four more U.S. House seats. The Democratic-led legislature passed the map and Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed it into law. The map takes effect only if voters approve it and the state supreme court clears the amendment process.
Virginia Democratic House Speaker Don Scott said the ruling ensures voters will have a voice in the outcome. “The Supreme Court of Virginia’s decision ensures that this referendum will move forward and that Virginians will have the opportunity to make their voices heard,” he said.
Republicans have challenged the effort from the outset. The National Republican Congressional Committee filed the initial request for a restraining order. Virginia House Republican Minority Leader Terry Kilgore expressed confidence Wednesday that the redistricting effort would be defeated in court and at the ballot box.
“If we can throw this constitutional amendment out, what other constitutional amendments can we throw out over the next few years?” Kilgore told reporters following the ruling. “That’s not the way Virginia should be.”
In Tazewell County, where local officials had stopped preparing for the referendum after the restraining order took effect last month, Director of Elections Brian Earls said he was moving quickly to get ready. “I believe we will be ready,” Earls said in an email. “If not, it will not be for lack of effort.”
National redistricting landscape
The Virginia referendum is part of a broader mid-decade redistricting push set off when President Donald Trump pushed Republican officials in Texas last year to redraw congressional districts. The goal was for the GOP to preserve its narrow House majority ahead of midterm elections, which historically favor the party out of power.
Republicans say they expect to gain nine House seats through redistricting in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio. Democrats say they expect to gain six seats in California and Utah through their own remapping efforts, with the Virginia map aimed at recovering up to four more seats.
Democratic lawmakers in Virginia have sought to portray their redistricting push as a response to Trump’s overreach. Republicans have described the proposed district map as a way for Democrats in northern Virginia to commandeer the rest of the state.