A Virginia referendum to redraw the state’s congressional districts is set to upend House races, turning some contests newly competitive and endangering four Republican incumbents.
The redistricting plan approved by voters Tuesday was drawn by Democratic state legislators to help their party secure 10 out of Virginia’s 11 House seats, instead of the six they now hold. Those lawmakers said it was necessary as a temporary measure until 2030 to counter President Donald Trump’s push to protect the GOP House majority by redrawing districts in Texas and other red states to favor Republicans.
If the measure survives legal challenges, the new maps will take effect in time for the November election. They split blue, vote-rich Northern Virginia into five districts that stretch further south into rural red territory, favoring Democrats and creating one seat that may not have an incumbent.
Some Democratic candidates have shifted the seat in which they’re running to take up a newly blue seat. More campaigns pegged to the new maps are likely to be announced in coming weeks.
The state’s Republican incumbents, meanwhile, will be bracing for a political kind of musical chairs. Reps. John McGuire and Rob Wittman will be shifted out of their current districts and into new, far bluer seats, while Rep. Ben Cline has been drawn into the red seat held by another GOP incumbent, Rep. Morgan Griffith.
U.S. representatives in Virginia are not required to live within the congressional district they represent, but their new seats could make it much harder to win reelection. The state’s fifth Republican incumbent, Rep. Jen Kiggans, had already been facing a tough reelection battle in her battleground district but could face steeper odds.
The nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project made it possible to type in your address at the bottom of this page to look up your new district.
Here’s what to know about the new districts and who is running.
District 1: Rob Wittman (R)
How it physically changed: A reddish district that included the Richmond suburbs and Northern Neck will become a blue one that stretches along Interstate 95 through the Fredericksburg area and a slice of Northern Virginia. It had been previously been considered “likely Republican” by the nonpartisan elections site Sabato’s Crystal Ball but is now “likely Democratic.”
Change in partisan lean: +5 Trump in 2024 to +8 Harris under new map.
Who is running: Wittman, whose home is outside the district’s new lines, is fundraising for a reelection bid. His campaign did not respond to a request for comment on his plans under redistricting.
On the Democratic side, Rep. Eugene Vindman said he plans to switch to this newly blue seat, which includes his home in eastern Prince William County. He would face a long list of lesser-known candidates who had lined up to challenge Wittman, including business lawyer Mel Tull and former Navy officer Jason Knapp.
District 2: Jen Kiggans (R)
How it physically changed: One of the country’s most consistently swingy districts — changing hands three times in the last decade — will become a bit more Democratic leaning under the new maps. The seat keeps its anchor in Virginia Beach but takes in some bluer parts of the Hampton Roads area. Sabato’s Crystal Ball has shifted this former “toss-up” seat into the “leans Democratic category.”
Change in partisan lean: Even in 2024 to +5 Harris under new map.
Who is running: Kiggans is expected to run for reelection. A crowded Democratic field is led by former congresswoman Elaine Luria, who represented the area for two terms before losing to Kiggans in 2022. Other Democratic candidates include Matt Strickler, a former Biden administration official and Virginia secretary of natural resources and physician Nila Devanath.
District 3: Bobby Scott (D)
How it physically changed: This majority Black district in the Hampton Roads area remains solidly Democratic and keeps much of its current territory in Norfolk, Newport News and Portsmouth, while extending further south into suburban parts of Chesapeake.
Change in partisan lean: +35 Harris in 2024 to +26 Harris under new map.
Who is running: Scott is expected to run for reelection and does not appear to have a serious challenger so far.
District 4: Jennifer McClellan (D)
How it physically changed: This district covering Richmond and parts of Southside Virginia will remain solidly blue but less so. It gives up some Richmond suburbs and stretches further west to include more of the rural areas bordering North Carolina — and also inches further east onto the Virginia Peninsula.
Change in partisan lean: +33 Harris in 2024 to +16 Harris under new map.
Who is running: McClellan is expected to run for reelection, and no other Democrats or Republicans have filed to run so far.
District 5: John McGuire (R)
How it physically changed: This safe Republican district in Central and Southern Virginia will undergo one of the commonwealth’s most dramatic shifts. It will become a “likely Democratic” seat, according to Sabato’s Crystal Ball, by adding most of the voter-rich suburbs west and north of Richmond.
Change in partisan lean: +12 Trump in 2024 to +9 Harris under new map.
Who is running: McGuire has said he is running for reelection, but his home in Louisa County has been moved into another blue seat in the 7th Congressional District. Shannon Taylor, the top prosecutor in the Richmond suburb of Henrico County, who unsuccessfully ran for attorney general last year, confirmed Tuesday she switch into this race. She will likely lead the field of Democratic candidates.
District 6: Ben Cline (R)
How it physically changed: What was once a safe Republican seat covering the Shenandoah Valley was redrawn into a much more competitive — and slightly Democratic-leaning — district that connects many of the state’s biggest college towns, including Harrisonburg (home to James Madison University); Charlottesville (University of Virginia); Lynchburg (Liberty University) and Blacksburg (Virginia Tech). Sabato’s Crystal Ball now says it “leans Democratic.”
Change in partisan lean: +24 Trump in 2024 to +3 Harris under new map.
Who is running: Cline has said he will run for reelection, though his home has been moved into the much redder 9th District and he could make a bid there instead. Top Democratic candidates are likely to include former congressman, gubernatorial candidate and Obama administration official Tom Perriello and best-selling “Dopesick” author Beth Macy. State Del. Sam Rasoul (Roanoke) has also been exploring a run.
District 7: Eugene Vindman (D)
How it physically changed: This district in the Fredericksburg area had been considered one of the state’s most competitive congressional seats. It now becomes a more Democratic seat in largely new turf that resembles the shape of a lobster: The district’s “tail” — and its largest concentration of voters — runs through a strip of deep-blue Arlington and Fairfax counties, with one claw reaching towards the West Virginia border and another toward Richmond’s western exurbs.
Change in partisan lean: +3 Harris in 2024 to +8 Harris under new map.
Who is running: Vindman had previously said he will run in the new 1st District — where he lives — under the new map. A slew of prominent Democrats have jumped at the opportunity to represent this open seat, including former Virginia first lady Dorothy McAuliffe, Olivia Troye, a Trump administration official turned GOP critic, former federal prosecutor JP Cooney, state Sen. Saddam Salim (Falls Church) and state Dels. Dan Helmer (Fairfax) and Adele McClure (Arlington).
State Sen. Tara Durant (Stafford) and former Army official Doug Ollivant are among the GOP candidates who had planned to challenge Vindman.
District 8: Don Beyer (D)
How it physically changed: This district had been among the densest and bluest in Virginia, containing the affluent Northern Virginia suburbs closest to D.C. It will keep some of Arlington County and Alexandria but also extend more than 100 miles along the Potomac River to take in the redder coastal Northern Neck region all the way to Williamsburg.
Change in partisan lean: +49 Harris in 2024 to +18 Harris under new map.
Who is running: Beyer has announced he will seek reelection. He faces a handful of Democratic challengers, including former CIA officer Adam Dunigan and former Alexandria city council member Mo Seifeldein, as well as a few lesser-known Republicans.
District 9: Morgan Griffith (R)
How it physically changed: This seat in Southwest Virginia will be the only one in the commonwealth to remain safely Republican, giving up the bluer Roanoke area while taking in more rural territory further north in the Shenandoah Valley.
Change in partisan lean: +44 Trump in 2024 to +49 Trump under new map.
Who is running: Griffith is expected to seek reelection, though he could see a primary challenge from Cline, who was redrawn into the same district and whose seat has become bluer. At least three Democrats have filed for their party’s nomination.
District 10: Suhas Subramanyam (D)
How it physically changed: This district will maintain its anchor in Loudoun County but lose some parts of the Virginia Piedmont for populous blue suburbs in western Fairfax County and redder communities in the northern Shenandoah Valley.
Change in partisan lean: +8 Harris in 2024 to +12 Harris under new map.
Who is running: Subramanyam has announced he will seek reelection. Former Republican state Senate candidate Julie Perry is hoping to challenge him.
District 11: James Walkinshaw (D)
How it physically changed: This district, which sits almost entirely within Fairfax County, will keep part of that blue stronghold but become less suburban and less solidly Democratic. It will stretch west from Reston in the D.C. suburbs to the West Virginia border, taking in exurbs in Prince William County and rural farmland in the Virginia Piedmont and the Shenandoah Valley.
Change in partisan lean: +34 Harris in 2024 to +13 Harris under new map.
Who is running: Walkinshaw has announced he will seek reelection. He faces a primary challenge from Bree Fram, a former Space Force colonel who retired amid Trump’s ban on openly transgender service members in the military.
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