Virginia Supreme Court overturns redistricting referendum, dealing stinging blow to Democrats

The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday ruled that the state’s redistricting referendum was unconstitutional and struck down the redraw of the state’s House maps.”We hold that the legislative process employed to advance this proposal violated Article XII, Section 1 of the Constitution of Virginia,” they wrote. “This constitutional violation incurably taints the resulting referendum vote and nullifies its legal efficacy.”
The decision is a considerable blow to House Democrats, who had hoped to balance out the redistricting efforts of several Republican-leaning states to improve their odds in the November midterms.
The referendum saw voters narrowly back a plan to temporarily redraw the congressional maps in a manner that would have heavily favored Democrats. While the state currently has six Democrats and five Republicans in the House, the proposed redraw would have likely sent ten Democrats and one Republican to Washington.
With Virginia’s redraw struck down, Republicans appear poised to secure a net gain in partisan-leaning seats through redistricting. Texas, Florida, and Tennessee have already redrawn the maps, while Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and South Carolina are either expected to do so or exploring their own redraws.
The wave of redistricting pushes follows the Supreme Court striking down race-based congressional districts and narrowing its interpretation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent at Just the News. Follow him on X.

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