Piling on the Democratic redistricting efforts that Republicans THOUGHT they had in the bag….
Virginia voters approved a referendum to draw new congressional districts that could add as many as four Democratic seats to the House of Representatives, the Associated Press projects, awarding Democrats an advantage in the national redistricting war begun by Republicans.
Democrats and their allies poured at least $64 million into the Virginia campaign in a high-stakes bid to counter President Donald Trump’s push to add Republican seats in other states. Voters rewarded the effort, continuing momentum Democrats built with big wins in Virginia’s statewide elections last fall.
The measure was narrowly passing with the vast majority of ballots counted, according to unofficial returns.
Though voters had said in polls that they generally opposed partisan gerrymandering, many said they were willing to approve it for a limited time to send an extraordinary message to the White House.
“Tonight, Virginians sent a message heard across this country: we will not let Donald Trump or MAGA Republicans rig our democracy,” Virginia House Speaker Don Scott (D-Portsmouth), one of the leaders of the redistricting campaign, said in a statement.
Republican had countered that the effort was unconstitutional and a naked power grab. They filed a number of lawsuits to block the referendum and its amendment to the state constitution; several of those challenges are set to be heard by the Supreme Court of Virginia later this week….
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