Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) is encouraging Virginians to vote yes on the state’s redistricting referendum that could land Democrats a 10-1 advantage over Virginia’s U.S. House seats.
Spanberger appears in a seven-figure, statewide ad buy released on Wednesday, telling Virginia voters that she is voting yes on the referendum to redistrict the commonwealth. The measure to allow a vote on a constitutional amendment that would give the Virginia General Assembly, led by Democrats, the authority to redraw the state’s congressional map mid-decade has been championed by Democrats in the state legislature.
“I’m voting yes on Virginia’s redistricting amendment. It’s directly in response to what other states decided to do and a president who says that he’s ‘entitled’ to more Republican seats before this year’s midterms,” Spanberger said in the advertisement.
The Virginia governor, who campaigned on being a more centrist, affordability-focused Democrat, has been entangled in Democratic redistricting efforts since taking office. She signed off on the bill to hold the redistricting referendum in early February, stating that it was “the work of the legislature” and a “temporary and responsive effort to redistrict.”
She underscored similar points in the video ad released Wednesday.
“Our approach is different: It’s temporary. It preserves Virginia’s fair redistricting process into the future. At this extraordinary moment, I urge all Virginians to join me in voting yes by April 21,” Spanberger said.
The redistricting effort has largely been partisan and has been challenged in court, though the state’s Supreme Court gave the elections board the go-ahead to hold the referendum scheduled for April 21.
Former Gov. Glenn Youngkin has vehemently opposed the Democratic redistricting push, calling it an “unconstitutional, illegal power grab to gerrymander the Commonwealth.”
“Far left politicians in the capital are trying to overturn the will of the people. Why? Because they want more power. That’s it. They want to disenfranchise millions of Virginians to gain more power for themselves. All you need to do is look at the shape of the proposed maps to realize how shameless they are,” Youngkin said.
Virginia’s Democratic U.S. House delegation came out in support of the redistricting move in late February.
But Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA), who joined the Republican National Committee in filing a lawsuit against the Virginia redistricting plan, bashed his Democratic counterparts’ support for the redistricting effort.
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“Not shocking! Democrats supporting Democrats publicly, no matter what they may think privately,” Griffith told the Washington Examiner in late February.
If Virginians vote in favor of the April referendum and the plan wins in the state court system, the state General Assembly can install its map for the 2026 midterm elections. Early voting on the referendum began on March 6.