RICHMOND, Va - State lawmakers returned to Capitol Square for a special session that political analyst predicted would be filled with partisan intrigue. The early hours Monday did not disappoint.
Governor Terry McAuliffe called for the special session after a federal court ruled that Virginia's Third Congressional district was unconstitutional. The court ruled that there were too many African-Americans in the district and that they needed to be more evenly spread out throughout the state.
A group of Democrats announced on Friday, they plan on presenting a bill that would "fix the unconstitutional gerrymandering" as ruled by the court, according to a blog post by Virginia's Democratic caucus.
“It fixes problems with the 3rd District, creates districts that reflect Virginia voting patterns, and gives African-Americans and other minorities a greater voice throughout Virginia," said Senator Mamie Locke (D-Hampton), who patroned a similar bill in 2011.
After a briefing of delegates on the redistricting case and where the court's ruling leaves Virginia lawmakers, Delegate Chris Jones (R-Suffolk) said the court has not asked them to do a complete "redraw" of the congressional maps, only to fix the issues with the 3rd district and the areas that surround it. Jones said redrawing Congressional maps is only done once every 10 years.
"I know there have been several plans that were introduced, which I have not seen but will look at today," said Jones when asked about the Democrats proposal. "This is the first step in a multiple step process to have a bill presented and passed by the legislator to get to the Governor's desk."
Jones said he was optimistic that lawmakers could agree on a plan that Gov. McAuliffe would sign before the September 1st deadline the court set for lawmakers to fix the 3rd district's lines. Political analysts said failure to do so would force the courts to reconfigure the Virginia's Congressional map.
“Governor McAuliffe has to sign off on the plan and if he vetoes it and they can’t reach an agreement with the General Assembly this whole redistricting case will be thrown into the courts,”political analyst Dr. Bob Holsworth said.
The most contentious moments Monday came during an interview of judge Rossie Alston, who Republican lawmakers have said they support to take over a vacated seat on the bench of Virginia's supreme court.
Gov. McAuliffe had nominated judge Jane Roush for the position, but her nomination was denied by a House subcommittee Monday morning.
During the interview of Alston, democrats questioned him about a report in the Washington Post that said Alston's financial disclosure forms from 2012 and 2015 are not on file with with state. Alston said he did, in fact, complete the forms, and republicans said Alston was being "dragged through the mud" for political reasons.
A public hearing on the redistricting issue is scheduled for 3pm Monday. Community advocates have called on lawmakers to make the redistricting process completely transparent for the good of voters.
