Virginia Supreme Court considers whether to block voter-approved US
House map favoring Democrats
[April 27, 2026]
By DAVID A. LIEB
The Virginia Supreme Court on Monday will hear arguments in a Republican
challenge to the redrawn congressional map that was approved by voters
last week and could net Democrats four additional U.S. House seats.
The case contends that the Democratic-led General Assembly violated
procedural requirements by placing the constitutional amendment before
voters to authorize mid-decade redistricting. If the court agrees that
lawmakers broke the rules, it could invalidate the amendment and render
last week's statewide vote meaningless.
The Virginia court proceedings mark the latest twist in a national
redistricting battle between Republicans and Democrats seeking an
advantage in a November election that will determine whether Republicans
maintain their narrow majority in the U.S. House.
President Donald Trump urged Texas Republicans to redraw districts to
their favor last year in an attempt to win several additional House
seats. That set off a chain reaction of similar moves in other states,
leading to the voter approval last week of Virginia's new map.
Next up is Florida, where Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has included
congressional redistricting on the agenda for a special session of the
GOP-controlled Legislature beginning Tuesday.
On Sunday, Trump said he was in favor of the Florida attempt and
criticized the Virginia amendment that was pushed by Democrats.
“It’s a very bad thing for our country. Very, very bad,” he told Fox
News Channel’s "The Sunday Briefing."
So far, the two major parties have battled to a near draw. Republicans
think they could win up to nine more seats under revised districts in
Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio. Democrats think they could win
as many as 10 additional seats under new districts in California, Utah
and Virginia. But legal challenges remain in both Virginia and Missouri.
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A poster on the Virginia redistricting referendum is seen during
voting at Mason Square, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Alexandria, Va.
(AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Virginia currently is represented in the U.S. House by six Democrats
and five Republicans who were elected from districts imposed by a
court after a bipartisan redistricting commission failed to agree on
a map after the 2020 census. The new districts, which narrowly won
voter approval last Tuesday, could give Democrats an improved chance
to win 10 districts.
At issue before the state Supreme Court is whether those districts
should be invalidated because of the process used by lawmakers.
Because the state's redistricting commission was established by a
voter-approved constitutional amendment, lawmakers had to propose a
new constitutional amendment to redraw districts themselves. That
required approval of a resolution in two separate legislative
sessions, with a state election sandwiched in between, to place an
amendment on the ballot.
In January, a judge in rural Tazewell County, in southwestern
Virginia, ruled that lawmakers failed to follow their own rules for
adding the redistricting amendment to a special session last fall.
Circuit Judge Jack Hurley Jr. also ruled that lawmakers failed to
initially approve the amendment before the public began voting in
last year’s general election and that the state had failed to
publish the amendment three months before the election, as required
by law. As a result, he said, the amendment is invalid and void.
The Virginia Supreme Court placed Hurley's order on hold and allowed
the redistricting vote to proceed before hearing arguments on the
case. Republicans have filed at least two additional legal
challenges, which also are winding their way through the courts.
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