House Republicans are calling the new Virginia congressional map proposed by state Democrats an “illegal action,” and say the GOP will continue to fight the proposal in court.
Democrats in the Commonwealth passed a constitutional amendment last week enabling the party to temporarily bypass the state’s redistricting commission and redraw the state’s congressional lines by 2030.
The amendment is now expected to go before Virginia voters in a special election in April.
The Virginia delegation is currently composed of six Democrats and five Republicans. Democratic lawmakers in Richmond want to redraw the map so their party dominates the delegation, with at least nine members of Congress.
State lawmakers say voters will soon see the proposed map before that special election, and the party is looking to release its final plan at the end of January.
National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Richard Hudson of North Carolina said, “What Virginia is trying to do is highly illegal, and we’re fighting them in the court, and I think we’ve got a very good argument.”
“I’m very hopeful we can stop this illegal action that they’re trying to take,” Mr. Hudson said.
The GOP has so far failed to stop Democrats’ redistricting efforts in Virginia. Last week, a county judge rejected Republicans’ attempt to block the redistricting process.
“For well over a century, the courts of the Commonwealth have recognized a bedrock principle that amending the Constitution is a process left exclusively to the sound judgment of the Legislature that proposes amendments and the citizens that ratify or reject them,” the judge wrote.
Mr. Hudson noted the few seats up for grabs in Virginia are represented by Democrats, and many of them are in districts that were either won by President Trump or were close, so the GOP believes it currently has a favorable map.
“But we plan to hold Democrats accountable for their votes. They voted for the largest tax increase in American history. They voted against increasing the child tax credit and making them permanent,” he said.
Additionally, other Republican-led states, including Florida, Alabama and Louisiana, are still in the middle of redistricting their own congressional maps, and the Supreme Court will have a final say in at least these three states.
However, the court still must rule in time for the states to respond before their primaries.
“It’s getting close, the sooner the better. The Alabama legislature has something that allows them to move the primaries if [the Louisiana Supreme Court Case] comes down, so they could redraw the map,” Mr. Hudson said.
“At least those three states might be able to respond to what Supreme Court rules,” he said.
Democrats remain concerned that the expected Supreme Court decision this year on the Voting Rights Act could ultimately give Republicans more seats in other southeastern states.
