The Virginia Supreme Court has thrown out new electoral maps designed to flip four Republican-held U.S. House seats to Democrats and hand President Donald Trump’s party a victory ahead of November’s midterm elections.
The Virginia Supreme Court has ruled that the Democratic-led state Legislature violated procedural requirements when it placed a constitutional amendment on the redistricting ballot. Voters narrowly approved the amendment on April 21, but a court ruling rendered that vote meaningless.
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“This violation irrevocably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum and invalidates the vote,” the court said in its opinion.
Democrats had hoped to win up to four more U.S. House seats under Virginia’s redrawn maps as part of an effort to offset Republican redistricting elsewhere at President Trump’s request. This ruling, combined with recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions that significantly weakened the Voting Rights Act, further increased the Republican Party’s legislative gerrymandering advantage heading into the midterm elections.
The ruling could strengthen Republicans’ hopes of retaining a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in the midterm elections. Democrats pushed the Virginia bill as part of a nationwide fight to redraw America’s electoral boundaries that the Republican president began last year.
In its ruling, the Virginia court agreed with Republican arguments that the Democratic-controlled state Legislature did not follow proper procedures in approving the referendum before voting on it. The day after the referendum, a county judge blocked the state’s certification of the results, saying the language on the ballot was “grossly misleading.”
President Trump responded to the decision regarding Truth Social, calling it “a huge victory for the Republican Party and America in Virginia.”
“The Virginia Supreme Court defeated the Democrats’ horrific gerrymandering. Let’s make America great again! President Donald J. Trump.”
Republican advantage
The Virginia court’s decision will further boost Republicans’ momentum in the redistricting battle. The ruling follows a U.S. Supreme Court decision that gutted key provisions of the Voting Rights Act with the support of a conservative majority, paving the way for Republican-led southern states to dismantle Democratic-held black and Latino-majority districts. Black and Latino voters tend to support Democratic candidates.
Republican-controlled states such as Louisiana, Alabama and Tennessee have already taken steps to draw new maps in time for November elections, even postponing party primaries to give lawmakers time.
Last year, President Trump urged the Texas Republican Party to scrap its electoral map and draw new district lines for five sitting Democratic House members. After Texas did so, California Democrats redrawn the state’s districts and targeted five Republican incumbents. Other states followed suit.
Virginia voters approved the Democratic-backed map in the April 21 special election by a margin of 51.7% to 48.3%, according to an Associated Press tally. The referendum was the final step in a complex legislative maneuver to circumvent a constitutional amendment passed by voters in 2020 that left redistricting in the hands of bipartisan commissions.
If Virginia’s map remains invalid, Republicans could end up with an advantage in up to 10 House seats nationwide, pending the outcome of current Republican redistricting efforts in Louisiana, Alabama and Tennessee.
Republicans only need to lose a net two seats in the November election to maintain their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The process of redrawing maps, known as redistricting, typically occurs once every 10 years to reflect population changes as measured by the decennial census. Ongoing and recently completed redistricting efforts by Republican and Democratic-majority state legislatures are motivated by a desire for partisan advantage.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision only accelerated the fight. In addition to the states already aiming to immediately redraw their maps, other states have also announced their intention to pursue the most partisan approach to redistricting by the 2028 election.
Under Virginia law, two consecutive legislatures must approve a constitutional amendment, with one state election in between, before it can be put to a vote.
A Democratic majority in Congress approved the amendment in October, just days before the November state election. The Democratic Party, which gained additional seats in the vote, passed a second amendment in January and scheduled a referendum in April.
Republicans have filed multiple lawsuits alleging that there was no election interference because early voting had already begun when the amendment was first passed, and that lawmakers violated other procedures in moving forward with the bill.
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson on Friday praised the X ruling.
“The Virginia Supreme Court affirmed what we have believed all along: the hastily decided and egregious gerrymandering was unconstitutional. This decision is a victory for democracy and ensures Virginians have fair representation in Congress.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries criticized the court’s decision, saying, “We cannot overturn the will of more than 3 million voters.”
“We are considering all options to reverse this shocking decision,” he posted on X.
