Virginia Democrats filed an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday in a last-ditch attempt to save redrawn congressional maps that could send four extra Democrats to the U.S. House, arguing that the state’s high court improperly overturned a redistricting referendum last week.
But some top Democrats express little hope that the appeal will affect this November’s congressional midterms and are pivoting to waging campaigns in the state’s existing districts.
In an interview, state Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax) said “the practical realities of our election calendar” will prevent candidates from running in new maps even if conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court were open to helping Virginia Democrats.
Tuesday is the deadline set by state elections officials for putting the ballot mechanisms in place. Surovell noted that Virginia’s elections software is antiquated and overdue for replacement.
Instead, Democrats are making the case that it’s time to work with the cards they have in hand.
“Since we can’t control anything other than mobilizing and organizing, then let’s mobilize and organize and turn our anger into fuel for that,” Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D-Virginia) said.
The Supreme Court of Virginia last week overturned the state referendum by which a slim majority of voters in April approved drawing new congressional boundaries. The court’s decision was a big win for President Donald Trump in his efforts to hold on to a slim GOP majority in the House this fall. Republican-led states are continuing to add red-leaning districts even as Virginia’s bid to fight back was thwarted.
Virginia Democrats have shut the door on an idea floated over the weekend to remove members of the Supreme Court of Virginia by quickly lowering the mandatory retirement age and packing it with favorable justices for another swing at redistricting.
“No,” Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) replied Monday afternoon when asked whether she supported such a move as she left a bill-signing event.
“We’re not talking about it. It’s not serious,” Surovell said in an interview.
Democrats, who threw more than $64 million and massive amounts of political capital into the hasty campaign in Virginia, have scrambled over the past few days to regroup.
The court-packing idea — first reported by the New York Times — came up Saturday during a call between House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) and Democratic members of Virginia’s congressional delegation. Two people with knowledge of the call, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a private conversation, said it was not a formal strategy meeting but instead an opportunity for the Democrats to air their frustration.
Another person on the call, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the topic of ousting justices was presented as something that had been seen on social media. This person said that Jeffries did not introduce the court-scrapping idea but that he wanted to know if it was possible.
“That was posed as a possibility. I don’t think you got majority support on the call,” Rep. Robert “Bobby” Scott (D-Virginia) said of the proposal.
Surovell said he spoke with Jeffries over the weekend and explained to the leader that the most productive route would be to fight hard for the current districts. Surovell said two of the four Republican-held seats that would have shifted blue under the new maps “are pretty vulnerable under the existing map.”
The remaining two seats “could be viable challenges, as well, particularly if Trump keeps pushing up gas prices by fighting an illegal and ill-advised war and putting our economy into a recession,” Surovell said.
On Monday, Jeffries wrote to his fellow Democrats that “we remain undeterred” despite the ruling in Virginia and the U.S. Supreme Court’s striking down of a key part of the Voting Rights Act that ensured minority representation. The latter decision sparked a new round of map-drawing for Republicans seeking to eliminate majority-Black districts represented by Democrats.
“Democratic enthusiasm and resolve have grown more intense. Even after being aided and abetted by blatantly undemocratic court decisions, the failed GOP majority will not be able to gerrymander themselves back into power,” Jeffries wrote.
Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Virginia) said he was operating under the assumption that this year’s midterm elections would play out under the same map of Virginia congressional districts used in 2024.
He didn’t like the idea of a voter referendum to redraw the commonwealth’s maps in the first place, he said, but said such a measure was necessary to create a fair political climate.
“These are unprecedented times and you have to respond to unprecedented actions by Republicans with our own unprecedented actions,” Subramanyam said in an interview. “The only way we’ll have fair elections across the country is to make Republicans pay the price.”
Scott said he was infuriated by the ruling by the Supreme Court of Virginia that overturned the redistricting referendum, finding it full of holes. The court found that the General Assembly violated the state constitutional requirement to vote on a proposed amendment before a House of Delegates election and again after the election. The decision said that the redistricting referendum did not qualify because early voting had begun last year when the initial legislation was passed.
Scott argued that the finding is out of step with state and federal definitions of elections as occurring on Election Day, which is partly the basis for the emergency appeal filed Monday with the U.S. Supreme Court. But he waved off the question of whether any court action might come too late to affect this year’s elections.
“I’m not good at predicting,” Scott said. “My view now is, I’m focused on getting elected.”
Republicans ridiculed the Democrats for their predicament, but the gloating sparked a backlash when Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Virginia), whose Virginia Beach district is one of the most vulnerable under the existing maps, agreed with a radio host Mondaywho told Jeffries to “get your cotton-picking hands off of Virginia.” Kiggans replied, “That’s right. I — ditto. Yes.”
Democrats immediately condemned Kiggans for endorsing a phrase widely seen as racist, especially when applied to a Black man. She responded on X that “the radio host should not have used that language and I do not — and did not — condone it,” but also accused Democrats of using “every lie and distortion to distract from getting their hats handed to them.”
Justin Jouvenal contributed to this report.
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