Virginia Supreme Court approves referendum on redistricting
In a major win for Virginia Democrats, the state Supreme Court ruled on Feb. 13 that a public referendum on a redistricting plan can go forward.
A special election on a redrawn map of Virginia’s congressional districts is set for April 21. Early voting will start on March 6.
The new map was developed by Democrats in response to redrawn maps approved in other states – including Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina – to give Republicans the edge in the upcoming midterms.
Related story: Virginia Democrats release redistricting map
The Virginia Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge filed by General Assembly Republicans in Tazewell County on an expedited basis. The court, however, left the door open for a final ruling after the special election.
Del. Don Scott, speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, lauded the decision. “Today, the Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed what we already know: Virginians will have the final say. The redistricting referendum on April 21 will move forward.”
Primary challenges
Under the redistricting plan, Fairfax County, which is currently divided among three congressional districts, will have five. That will create challenges for the candidates running for re-election in the November midterms.
The existing, heavily Blue 8th congressional district, held by Rep. Don Beyer (D), includes Bailey’s Crossroads, Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church, and parts of Annandale.
If the redistricting plan is approved by voters, the 8th District would become more competitive, as it would include a narrower swath of Northern Virginia and a large section of southeastern areas currently in the 7th and 1st districts.
Beyer is running in the Democratic Primary on June 16, where he will face at least five challengers:
- Mo Seifeldein, the son of Sudanese refugees, who served on the Alexandria City Council (2019-21).
- Daniel Gray, a member of Arlington’s Energy Committee and a former member of the board of Arlington Young Democrats.
- Adam Dunigan, a Marine veteran who worked for the CIA.
- Michael Duffin, a national security expert at the Department of State.
- Frank Ferreira, a member of the Federal Protective Service in the Department of Homeland Security.
The 11th District, represented by James Walkinshaw (D), is mostly confined to Fairfax County. Under the redistricting map, it would be greatly enlarged, encompassing Prince William and Fauquier counties and stretching all the way to the West Virginia border.
As Walkinshaw was just elected in November to complete the late Rep. Gerry Connolly’s term, he needs to run for re-election in 2026. That means he will have to introduce himself to many more voters.
Walkinshaw so far faces one opponent in the June 16 Democratic Primary: Bree Fram, an astronautical engineer and former colonel in the U.S. Space Force who was ousted from the military for being transgender.
The newly drawn 1st congressional district would include the Bailey’s Crossroads area. Rep. Eugene Vindman (D), who currently represents Virginia’s 7th District and lives in the redrawn 1st District, plans to run for re-election in the 1st District if voters approve the new map.
This is the opposite of democracy
Agreed. But as clearly shown by the GOP at all levels, our nation is only a democracy in name. So many loopholes are possible to steal power and they have been doing this at all levels. Playing by those ‘unwritten’ rules while GOP doesn’t will only shift the power away from the people more and more.
The context of the first sentence should really be National Democrats, not at the state level. As noted later in the article, this was a DIRECT response to National Republican moves, especially in Texas, to try to shift the House of Representatives to the GOP. It backfired quite a bit on them. Reminder that this redistricting is not permanent, it us a direct response to GOP gerrymandering. Notice that Democrats did not do the same thing to the state house or senate.
If you click on a district, you can see your new district. I’m pretty sure based on this map, we would be in the new district 7. https://www.vpap.org/redistricting/2026/
Rumor seems to be that Dan Helmer wants to run in the 7th.
To the victor go the spoils I suppose. While I hate this it doesn’t change how I’m represented. That is, I’m not represented and haven’t been since Tom Davis and even then he was unreliable. Likely never will be again.
It just shows what we already knew, the members of the political class regardless of party mostly behave the same it’s only their pet rocks that change.
Can someone tell me what’s going on with all the commercials telling us not to approve this new map? Are Republicans behind the PR thrust?