Virginia Democrats threatened to go nuclear on the GOP in their retaliatory mid-decade redistricting, potentially deleting as many as four Republican seats to create a map where Democrats win 10 out of 11 districts.
Don Scott, speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, was asked about redistricting at a meeting of the Virginia Property Owners Alliance. In response, he replied, “10-1 is not out of the realm to be able to draw the maps in a succinct and community-based way,” according to Punchbowl News’ Ally Mutnick.
Virginia’s current congressional map, enacted through a bipartisan redistricting process approved by voters in 2020, has six Democrats and five Republicans.
Democrats’ proposal for a mid-decade gerrymander is intended as retaliation against President Donald Trump’s pressure scheme to get Republican state legislatures to draw out Democratic districts, which has so far taken place in Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina. GOP officials in Florida have also expressed interest, and a massive battle is unfolding in Indiana as GOP lawmakers are divided over whether to move forward with a gerrymander there.
California Democrats have already passed a retaliatory gerrymander of their own with voter approval of Proposition 50, passing a map that tries to draw out five Republicans across the state, and Utah Republicans also suffered a setback as state courts struck down a gerrymander they already passed in 2021.
Many of these mid-decade redistricting schemes are currently facing litigation in both state and federal courts.
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