The redistricting amendment passed in Virginia Tuesday will allow Democrats to pursue redrawn congressional district maps for the 2026 midterm elections.
The Associated Press called the race in favor of the redistricting amendment’s passage at 8:49 p.m. Tuesday. According to unofficial results from the Virginia Department of Elections, more than 1.5 million votes (51.45%) supported the amendment and more than 1.4 million (48.6%) opposed.
“Virginia voters have spoken, and tonight they approved a temporary measure to push back against a President who claims he is ‘entitled’ to more Republican seats in Congress,” Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) said in a statement. “Virginians watched other states go along with those demands without voter input — and we refused to let that stand. We responded the right way: at the ballot box.”
The Virginia redistricting referendum marked a setback for President Donald Trump, who kicked off a national redistricting battle last year by urging Republican officials in Texas to redraw districts. The goal was to help Republicans win more seats in the November elections and hold on to a narrow House majority in the face of political headwinds that typically favor the party out of power during midterm elections.
“Virginia just changed the trajectory of the 2026 midterms,” Democratic state House Speaker Don Scott said in a statement. “At a moment when Trump and his allies are trying to lock in power before voters have a say, Virginians stepped up and leveled the playing field for the entire country.”
The constitutional amendment narrowly backed by voters bypasses a bipartisan redistricting commission to allow the use of new districts drawn by Virginia’s Democratic-led General Assembly. But the public vote may not be the final word. The state Supreme Court is considering whether the plan is illegal in a case that could make the referendum results meaningless.
Republicans have filed multiple legal challenges against the redistricting effort.
A Tazewell County judge ruled that the redistricting push was illegal for several reasons. Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley Jr. said lawmakers failed to follow their own rules for adding the redistricting amendment to a special session. He ruled that their initial vote failed to occur before the public began casting ballots in last year’s general election and thus didn’t count toward the two-step process. And he ruled that the state failed to publish the amendment three months before that election, as required by law.
“Serious legal questions remain about both the wording of this referendum and the process used to put it before voters,” Virginia House Republican Minority Leader Terry Kilgore said. “Those questions have not been resolved, and they now move where they belong: to the courts.”
Ken Cuccinelli, who previously served as a Trump administration official and Virginia attorney general, outlined four areas in which the constitutional amendment will be challenged in court. Those challenges concern the legality of first passage being proposed during a 2024 special budget session of the General Assembly, first passage occurring during an intervening election, a 90-day requirement to submit an amendment to voters, and a failure to meet contiguity requirements for electoral districts.
“The ‘yes’ vote has won Va’s redistricting referendum — but the legal fight is just beginning,” Cuccinelli said on X.
If the redrawn districts are implemented, Alexandria would remain in the 8th Congressional District. Alexandria voters overwhelmingly supported the amendment with 78.89% voting in favor.
“Virginia’s election today stands in stark contrast to Donald Trump’s efforts to influence November’s Congressional elections by bullying Republican-led legislatures into mid-decade redistricting,” Rep. Don Beyer (D-8), who is running for reelection, said in a statement. “Here in Virginia, voters were given the opportunity to decide.”
On his reelection bid, Beyer said he looks forward to “working to earn the trust and support of communities in the new district — from Arlington to Yorktown — while reconnecting with those I have had the honor of serving, including communities I previously represented as Lieutenant Governor.”
Del. Kirk McPike (D-5), who represents part of Alexandria, said the passage was possible due to efforts to explain to voters why the measure was justified.
“There are millions of people across America who know that Congress is going to be back in the hands of the American people, and we’re going to hold Donald Trump accountable,” McPike said in remarks to Alexandria Democrats Tuesday night. “And that is the case because of you, because people like you across Virginia came together and said that we’re willing to take a risk. We’re willing to vote to change our Constitution, to level the playing field, and that is amazing.”
The redistricting in Texas led to a burst of redistricting nationwide. So far, Republicans believe they can win up to nine more House seats in newly redrawn districts in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio. Democrats think they can win up to five more seats in California, where voters approved a similar mid-decade redistricting effort last November, and one more seat under new court-imposed districts in Utah.
Democrats hope to offset the rest of that gap in Virginia, where they decisively flipped 13 seats in the state House and won back the governor’s office last year.
The back-and-forth redistricting battle also could continue in Florida, where the Republican-led Legislature is to convene April 28 for a special session that could result in more favorable congressional districts for Republicans.
