The Virginia Supreme Court has thrown out the state’s new congressional district map that skewed four seats to the Democrats, ruling it violates the state’s constitution and cannot be used in the upcoming midterm elections.
The 4-3 decision on Friday is a significant blow to Democrats and throws out a map that would have likely ensured the party flipped four of the state’s GOP-held seats in November. If implemented, it would have skewed Virginia’s congressional map 10-1 in favor of Democrats, leaving only a single district likely to elect a Republican.
The map was approved in a voter referendum last month by a margin of 51.5% to 48.5%, following one of the most expensive campaigns in state history. But the court ruling nullified those results.
The majority of justices said the General Assembly violated the constitution in drawing the new map which, it said, “irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void.”
The decision follows record-breaking spending on the referendum, most of it by Democrats who significantly outspent the GOP in advertising and get-out-the-vote efforts. The party hoped to pick up four additional U.S. House seats to win back the majority from Republicans in the hotly contested November battle for control of Congress.
Virginia is one of nearly a dozen states that have scrambled to gerrymander congressional lines to gain a political advantage ahead of the November election. Many of the newly drawn maps face court challenges.
That nationwide battle picked up momentum after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a Louisiana case that limited states’ ability to gerrymander districts racially. Tennessee lawmakers voted on Thursday to implement a gerrymandered map that will likely rid the state of its only Democrat-leaning district. Alabama and South Carolina are also expected to carve out new congressional districts that favor Republicans.
Republicans celebrated the Virginia decision, which has at least marginally improved the party’s chances of hanging on to the House majority in November.
“Virginia Democrats’ corrupt scheme to rig the map has been crushed in court, restoring fairness and protecting the future of the Commonwealth,” said Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina, who chairs the GOP’s House fundraising arm. “This win is yet another sign Republicans have the momentum heading into November. We’re on offense, and we’re going to win.”
Republican National Chairman Joe Gruters said Democrats “just learned that when you try to rig elections, you lose.”
“The Virginia Supreme Court sided with the rule of law and struck down Democrats’ unconstitutional maps,” Mr. Gruters said. “The RNC led the charge in court against this blatant power grab, where Virginia Democrats poured more than $66 million into an effort to lock in control and silence voters. We took them to court, and we won.”
Democrats accused the court of ignoring the constitution and putting politics over the law.
“The Republican-led majority of the Supreme Court of Virginia contorted the plain language of the Constitution and Code of Virginia to give it a meaning that was never intended, which allowed them to reach the wrong legal conclusion that fit their political agenda. The consequences of their error are grave,” said Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones, a Democrat.
Sen. Tim Kaine, Virginia Democrat, called it “a sad day.”
“The timing of this ruling speaks volumes,” Mr. Kaine said in a statement. “The U.S. Supreme Court eviscerates the Voting Rights Act in a lawsuit brought by a January 6 extremist and Southern states race to craft backroom deals disenfranchising minority voters and candidates. Meanwhile Virginia voters choose to stand up against national disenfranchisement only to see their votes cast into the trash by a 4-3 ruling.”
The Virginia Supreme Court voted down the map after hearing from GOP opponents who said the Democrat-led Virginia General Assembly violated the state’s constitution when it convened a special session to redraw the map.
Lawmakers authorized the special session by simple majority vote, rather than a two-thirds vote typically required for a special session.
The Supreme Court also heard the argument that the General Assembly violated the constitution by failing to adhere to a 90-day waiting period before commencing the special election to approve the new map and jilted voters by convening the special session after early voting began in the election to pick new delegates for the legislature.
The timing denied voters the knowledge that the delegate they voted for would move to gerrymander the state’s congressional district lines.
“None of these voters had any idea this was coming. And that’s not how the process is supposed to work,” Thomas R. McCarthy, a lawyer for Republican opponents of the map, argued before the seven-member panel.
The majority of justices agreed.
The opinion, written by Justice D. Arthur Kelsey, said, “We hold that the legislative process employed to advance this proposal violated Article XII, Section 1 of the Constitution of Virginia. This constitutional violation incurably taints the resulting referendum vote and nullifies its legal efficacy.”
The three dissenting justices picked apart the ruling to throw out the map, including the argument that the General Assembly illegally jilted voters by convening the special session after early voting began in the 2025 election to pick new delegates for the legislature.
“In doing so, it appears that the majority’s definition of election would run afoul of federal election law,” Chief Justice Cleo E. Powell wrote.
