Virginia voters narrowly approved a hotly-contested redistricting referendum Tuesday that could have massive implications for which party controls the House of the Representatives after the 2026 midterm elections.
The aggressive gerrymandering measure, which could net Democrats four congressional seats, passed in a 50% to 49% vote.
The referendum is expected to result in a dramatic power swing, potentially giving Democrats control of all but one of the state’s 11 congressional seats next year.
Virginia’s congressional delegation currently breaks 6-5 in favor of Democrats, but the new map aims to shift it to a 10-1 split.
Republicans have lambasted the bizarre district boundaries in the new map as an attempt to silence conservatives in a former Vice President Kamala Harris won with just under 52% of the popular vote in 2024.
President Trump rallied against the redistricting effort on Monday, warning the result would have “major consequences for our entire country.”
“We’ll have one seat. At most, we’ll have one seat. And we can’t do that,” the president said during a tele-rally with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), calling the measure a “shameful effort to disenfranchise” conservative voters.
“If this referendum passes, Democrats will silence the voices of Virginia conservatives and push the same crazy radical left policies in Congress that [Virginia Democratic Gov. Abigail] Spanberger is now bringing to Virginia,” Trump warned.
“You’ve been dealt a bad hand with this governor that you have,” he lamented.
Johnson urged Virginians to get out to the polls to defeat “the most gerrymandered map in the country” and “save our Republican majority in the House.”
The House speaker argued “extreme Democrats” aimed to “wipe out four Republican seats all in one fell swoop for one reason: they want to stop President Trump and our agenda in its tracks.”
The ballot measure sought to amend Virginia’s constitution to give the Democrat-majority General Assembly power to redraw the state’s congressional district lines.
It’s the latest salvo in a redistricting war set off when Trump pushed GOP-controlled states to engage in rare mid-decade redistricting as a means of helping Republicans in the midterm elections.
Republicans will be defending their razor-thin House majority in the fall.
Texas, Missouri, Ohio, and North Carolina have redrawn district maps to favor Republicans.
Florida is also slated to pursue redistricting that could add GOP seats to the House.
Meanwhile, California voters approved new congressional maps last November aimed at canceling out the potential GOP gains in Texas.
“Today’s redistricting referendum is about one thing: President Trump’s power grab,” Spanberger wrote on X before polls closed.
“Last summer, he said he’s ‘entitled’ to more seats in Congress, and states across the country got to work to give him what he demanded,” she added. “You can push back, Virginia. Vote YES.”
Spanberger infamously said during her 2025 gubernatorial campaign that “I have no plans to redistrict Virginia.”
