RICHMOND, Va. β Virginia House Democrats advanced legislation Monday to redraw the state's 11 congressional districts, aiming to give their party a 10-1 advantage in upcoming midterm elections despite fierce Republican opposition.
The Democratic-controlled chamber moved forward with the redistricting plan along party lines after heated floor debate, with lawmakers from both sides trading accusations of partisan power grabs.
"All that's going to matter is what Northern Virginia wants from now on. That's what we're saying," said Del. Terry Kilgore, the Republican minority leader from Scott County. "You're also setting up a situation where a congressman can just stay in his own area where his population base is and not pay any attention to these rural areas."
Democrats defended the move as necessary to counter similar efforts by Republican-led states at the direction of President Donald Trump.
"Literally, we cannot afford to just sit there and let them have the power grab," said Del. Cia Price, a Democrat from Newport News. "We have indeed drawn this map to maximize the help that Democrats can give from Virginia to the nation to fight back."
The proposed redistricting would significantly alter Virginia's current congressional map, which was established by a bipartisan redistricting commission after the 2020 census and currently gives Democrats a 6-5 advantage.
According to analysis from the Virginia Public Access Project using 2025 gubernatorial election results, the new map would concentrate Republican strength in the ninth district in Southwest Virginia while creating 10 Democratic-leaning districts. Five of those districts would stretch from the Democratic stronghold of Northern Virginia into more Republican-leaning western, central and eastern parts of the state.
Republicans criticized the redistricting lines as gerrymandering that would dilute rural voices.
"You will be able to drive 11 miles through Fairfax County and hit five congressional districts," said Del. Wren Williams, a Republican from Franklin County.
House Speaker Don Scott, a Portsmouth Democrat, said the redistricting effort responds directly to Trump's influence on Republican redistricting efforts nationwide.
"It's one name β the reason we're here and it's Donald Trump. We have a responsibility to level the playing field. They want to pretend that everything has not changed. The world as we know it has changed," Scott said. "We are responding to what Donald Trump has done. Nothing more, nothing less. And that response is done is a transparent way, to be able to allow voters to have the last day."
"We know what we've done with this map and it is because the president started it and as a wonderful senator up the hall says, we will finish it," Price said.
Republicans rejected Democratic claims about protecting democracy, calling the effort purely partisan.
"'We're just doing this to protect Democracy'. No they're not. No they're not. They're doing it to protect the Democrat party. To protect the votes that they know they just lost," Kilgore said.
The redistricting plan faces significant hurdles before implementation. Virginia voters must approve the changes through a referendum scheduled for April 21. However, a circuit court ruling declared the process to set up that referendum illegal and is currently blocking it.
Democrats have appealed the circuit court decision to the Supreme Court of Virginia, but no hearing date has been scheduled.
Democrats say the bipartisan redistricting commission will resume its work after the 2030 census, characterizing the current effort as a temporary response to Republican actions in other states.
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