The Virginia Supreme Court denied an effort on Tuesday to resume certification of last week’s referendum to enact a new congressional map friendly to Democrats, as the Old Dominion’s highest court continues to weigh the legality of the vote itself.
Last week, a Tazewell County Circuit Court found Democrats in the state legislature violated multiple laws in rushing the referendum to voters for an April election. The judge in the case barred state officials from certifying the election, halting efforts to enact the new congressional map. Virginia’s Democratic attorney general, Jay Jones, urged the state Supreme Court to pause the lower court’s order and allow certification of the election to resume, a request the commonwealth’s high court denied on Tuesday.
The Tuesday order is not on the merits of the case challenging the vote, which the Virginia Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the day before. The court could still rule in favor of Democrats seeking to certify the referendum and enact a congressional map that would net Democrats up to four seats in the House of Representatives, or it could strike down the referendum, keeping the map used for the 2022 and 2024 elections in place.
If allowed to be enacted by the Virginia Supreme Court, the new congressional map will likely change the commonwealth’s congressional delegation from a 6-5 split in favor of Democrats to 10-1, in a state that leaned only modestly toward 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris over President Donald Trump, 51.8%-46.1%. Voters narrowly approved the new congressional map in a special election last week by an even slimmer margin, 51.7%-48.3%.
The Virginia Supreme Court did not indicate how it would rule during Monday’s oral arguments, but several of the justices offered sharp questions for defenders of the redistricting amendment.
VIRGINIA REDISTRICTING BALLOT AMENDMENT FACES TENSE QUESTIONING FROM STATE SUPREME COURT
Virginia was the latest state to wade into the mid-decade redistricting war with its hastily thrown-together referendum to suspend the bipartisan commission, which typically enacts a congressional map after a new census each decade, and enact a Democratic gerrymander of the Old Dominion. The commonwealth’s decision to draw a new map comes after Texas, Missouri, Ohio, and North Carolina enacted new maps to add Republican seats, while California and Utah enacted new maps adding Democratic seats.
Florida became the latest state to announce its intentions to create a new congressional map ahead of the midterm elections in November, with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) unveiling a map that could net Republicans up to four House seats, effectively neutralizing the Democratic gains with Virginia’s new map.