The self-styled democracy party isn’t behaving democratically. Democrats in Richmond are trying to effectively disenfranchise millions of Virginians by redrawing congressional maps to give themselves 10 of the commonwealth’s 11 House seats — giving Democrats control of 91 percent of House seats in a state where Republicans lost the last presidential election by just six points.
Most know better, including the governor. Abigail Spanberger was among the two-thirds of Virginians who voted in 2020 to transfer once-a-decade redistricting from the legislature to a bipartisan commission. “Gerrymandering is detrimental to our democracy,” she said back then. On Friday, Spanberger signed a bill to schedule an April 21 referendum that would move it back. The governor said it was necessary “to let voters respond to extreme measures taken by other states.”
She’s right that President Donald Trump lit this exploding cigar by urging Texas Republicans to redraw the maps to give themselves five more seats. California retaliated by redrawing maps to give Democrats five pickups. Missouri, Ohio and North Carolina redistricted to help the GOP. Some principled public servants have courageously resisted pressure to join the race to the bottom, including Indiana Senate Republicans and Maryland Senate Democrats.
Yet the most powerful Democrat in Richmond right now seems to be the opposite of principled: L. Louise Lucas is the crass 82-year-old president pro tempore of the state Senate. Representing the Hampton Roads area, she has been openly hostile for decades to the interests of Northern Virginia. More than anyone else, for example, it was Lucas who torpedoed plans to bring the NBA and NHL to Alexandria in 2024.
Lucas has been the driving force behind the 10 to 1 map, ignoring concerns that this overreach may backfire in a better year for Republicans. When Tim Kaine and Mark R. Warner, the state’s Democratic senators, suggested a less aggressive map that would net the party three new seats instead of four, Lucas responded on social media: “we do not need ‘coaching’ on redistricting coming from a cuck chair in the corner.”
A circuit court judge has ruled that Democrats violated state law by not correctly following procedures for putting the proposed amendment on the ballot, but Democratic leaders express confidence that friendly judges on the state Supreme Court will allow the April referendum to proceed. That means it would be left to the people of Virginia to stand up for the principle that voters should choose their representatives, not the other way around.
If the initiative passes in April, Virginia is unlikely to have the last word. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has called a special session for that same week to discuss redistricting. The GOP already has a 20 to 8 edge in the Sunshine State but is threatening to redraw the lines to pick up three to five additional seats in response to Virginia.
No one knows which party will ultimately come out ahead in this escalating exercise of cynicism and stupidity, but voters on both sides lose as their fundamental rights are eroded around the country.
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