A Virginia judge has halted Democratic efforts to hold a referendum in April to redraw the commonwealth’s congressional maps ahead of the 2026 elections.
Judge Jack Hurley of the Tazewell County Circuit Court ruled on Tuesday that the Democrat-led Virginia legislature failed to follow multiple procedures required to place the redistricting measure on the ballot. The ruling, which is almost certain to be appealed, is a significant victory for Virginia Republicans, who are attempting to stave off Democrats’ proposed redistricting measure that could wipe out up to four GOP-held congressional seats.
One of the main requirements the state legislature failed to satisfy was approving a ballot measure in two different sessions separated by state House elections. The legislature claimed it did so by passing the measure on Oct. 31, 2025, before the 2025 elections, and again earlier this month once the new state House of Delegates had been seated, but the judge found that because early voting for the 2025 elections had been ongoing since Sept. 19, 2025, the requirement was not met.
“The Constitution requires an intervening election following the first passage of a proposed Constitutional Amendment. It is legal, acceptable and even encouraged for voters to take advantage of the earlier voting statute. There is no rational conclusion except that the election began on the first day of voting (September 19, 2025) and ended on November 4, 2025,” the ruling said.
“Therefore, the Court finds that following the October 31, 2025 vote and passage of House Joint Resolution 6007 there has not been an ensuing general election of the House of Delegates, and such ensuing general election cannot occur until 2027,” Hurley’s ruling continued.
Hurley also found that the state legislature failed to comply with a Virginia law that requires the proposed ballot measure to be posted on the front door of every courthouse and published by the House clerk three months before the next state House election.
“Defendants woefully argued that the posting could occur three (3) months prior to the 2027 election and still comply with the statute even if the proposed Constitutional Amendment was voted on in the Spring of 2026,” Hurley said.
“The sole purpose for the posting [of] the proposed amendment at the front door of the Courthouse and having a copy in the Clerk’s Office available for inspection is to provide the voters with notice and information prior to the election of the House of Delegates members who would be elected to vote on the proposed Constitutional Amendment for the second vote as required under the Constitution,” he added.
Hurley additionally found the October 2025 vote was an invalid expansion of the 2024 special legislative session’s business, but he did find that Democrats’ reconvening of the 2024 special session in October 2025 was legally valid.
With Hurley’s ruling, the proposed ballot measure could have to be voted on by the state legislature again in January 2028 at the earliest — after the next scheduled state House elections in November 2027. If the ballot measure were then approved sometime after a successful second vote, the earliest it could be implemented would be in the 2028 elections.
Virginia Democrats, emboldened by sweeping victories in the commonwealth’s 2025 elections, set their sights on redrawing the state’s congressional map as part of the redistricting battle between Republicans and Democrats across the country ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
The current Virginia delegation to Congress includes six Democrats and five Republicans, for a state that voted 51.8% to 46.1% for then-President Kamala Harris over President Donald Trump in the 2024 election. Virginia Democrats have teased redrawing the commonwealth’s congressional map to have a 10-1 or 9-2 Democrat advantage, after Texas and California authorized similar partisan redesigns.
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Because Virginia has a constitutionally mandated independent commission to draw its congressional map, a partisan gerrymander requires a constitutional amendment via a ballot measure to be instituted, similar to California.
Democrats in Virginia had been eyeing an April referendum for the new congressional map, but with Tuesday’s ruling, that election could be off the table.