Washington Examiner investigations editor Sarah Bedford slammed Democrats for their Virginia redistricting referendum failure.
“It’s pretty clear that the Democrats made a massive tactical error with the Virginia referendum,” Bedford said on the Hugh Hewitt Show on Wednesday.
Virginia voters were asked in April whether the state should redraw its congressional map, framing it as a way to “restore fairness.” The measure narrowly passed as the Associated Press called the race in favor of the referendum with 81% of ballots counted; “yes” votes led with 50.3% to 49.7% for “no.”
The Virginia Supreme Court stepped in, invalidating the entire referendum and the new congressional map after voters approved it. The court alleged that lawmakers did not follow the state’s Constitution.
Bedford said the Democrats in Virginia failed two-fold because there was already a relatively even split in terms of congressional representation, 6-5 in favor of Democrats.
She said it’s “not just because they didn’t follow their own state’s Constitution and get that referendum before voters, but also because you had some Republican states that were reluctant to redistrict, because Texas and California had sort of battled things to a draw and maybe they could have just left it there.”
Bedford said the pressure is on and “Republicans are absolutely up at this point.”
BY THE NUMBERS: HOW MANY SEATS HAS EACH PARTY GAINED IN REDISTRICTING?
Bedford added that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said Republicans have gained around 10 House seats due to redistricting.
“I do think that was just sort of a massive strategic error for Democrats, simply because they have fewer states to gerrymander at this point. And if they are going to inspire Republicans into an all-out warfare, republicans just have more arrows to fire when it comes to redistricting.”