Virginia voters pass redistricting referendum to boost Democrats

Democrats scored a major victory Tuesday when Virginia voters narrowly passed a congressional redistricting referendum that could give the party a significant boost in the battle for the U.S. House of Representatives majority in this year’s midterm elections, The Associated Press reported at 8:49 p.m. ET.

The ballot measure gives the Democrat-controlled Virginia legislature — rather than the state’s current nonpartisan commission — temporary redistricting power through the 2030 election. It could result in a 10-1 advantage for Democrats in Virginia’s congressional delegation, up from their current 6-5 edge.

The referendum, which follows President Donald Trump’s push for rare but not unheard-of mid-decade redistricting in Republican-led states, would give the Democrats four additional left-leaning U.S. House seats ahead of the midterms as the party tries to win back control of the chamber from the GOP, which currently holds a razor-thin majority.

Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who in many ways became the face of her party’s push to pass the ballot initiative, said in a statement that “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.” 

“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 governor said.

DEMOCRACY ’26: STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE FOX NEWS ELECTION HUB

And Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin emphasized that “Virginians refused to let Trump play games with Americans’ right to fair representation.”

But Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina, the chair of the National…