The Supreme Court of Virginia on Friday struck down a voter-approved Democratic congressional redistricting plan, dealing a major setback to Democrats ahead of this year’s US midterm elections.
The court ruled that Virginia lawmakers did not properly follow constitutional procedures before placing the amendment on the ballot. Although voters narrowly approved the measure in an April 21 special election, the ruling means the result is now invalid. “This violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void,” the court said in its opinion.
Importance of the map
Democrats had hoped the new congressional map would help them gain up to four additional seats in the US House of Representatives. The proposed districts were designed to improve Democratic chances across several parts of Virginia, including northern Virginia, Richmond, Hampton Roads and western Virginia.
Under the proposed map, some Republican-leaning rural and conservative areas would have been merged into larger Democratic-leaning districts. One western Virginia district would also have grouped together three college towns seen as favourable to Democrats.
Virginia currently has 11 US House seats, with six represented by Democrats and five by Republicans. The existing map, created after the 2020 census by a court when a bipartisan commission failed to agree on district lines, will remain in place for the upcoming elections.
Court says lawmakers acted too late
Under Virginia law, constitutional amendments must be approved in two consecutive legislative sessions with an election in between before they can go to voters. Republicans argued that Democrats began the process too late because early voting for the 2025 statewide elections had already started.
Democrats argued that Election Day itself, not the start of early voting, should count as the legal deadline. The state Supreme Court rejected that argument. The court had earlier allowed the April special election to take place while reserving the right to rule later on whether the process was lawful. More than three million Virginians voted in that election, and the state spent millions of dollars to conduct it.
Republicans celebrate, Democrats push back
Republicans welcomed the ruling as a major political victory. “Virginians spoke loud and clear in 2020 that voters should pick their elected officials, not the other way around,” said Jason Miyares and Eric Cantor of Virginians for Fair Maps, the group that challenged the amendment.
US House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries criticised the decision, calling it “an unprecedented and undemocratic action that cannot stand.”
“We are exploring all options to overturn this shocking decision,” he said. Virginia House Speaker Don Scott said Democrats respected the ruling but defended the referendum. “This was always about more than one election, it was about whether the voices of the people matter,” Scott said. “And no decision can erase what Virginians made clear at the ballot box.”
Bigger impact on the national battle for Congress
The decision comes as both parties are aggressively fighting over congressional maps ahead of the midterms. Donald Trump had encouraged Republican-led states, including Texas, to redraw districts in an effort to protect the GOP’s narrow House majority. The Virginia ruling, along with recent changes to voting rights protections by the Supreme Court of the United States, is expected to strengthen Republicans’ redistricting advantage nationally.