Virginia Democrats just found out the Supreme Court is not in the mood for election-year do-overs.
In a decision that could ripple far beyond the Commonwealth, the United States Supreme Court slammed the brakes on a Democrat-backed effort to redraw Virginia’s congressional map ahead of the 2026 midterms, and it did it without a single justice publicly objecting. No fiery dissents. No dramatic explanation. Just a quiet little order that dropped like a hammer.
The fight centered around a voter-approved map Democrats hoped would help flip four Republican-held House seats and possibly tilt control of Congress. Virginia voters narrowly approved the new map in April after Democrats pushed through a complicated workaround to sidestep the state’s bipartisan redistricting system.
Republicans immediately cried foul, arguing the process violated Virginia’s constitution because lawmakers jammed the proposal forward after early voting had already started in a required election cycle.
Virginia’s Supreme Court agreed in a razor-thin 4-3 ruling, tossing the map out entirely and saying the process was too compromised to stand.
Democrats raced to the nation’s highest court begging the justices to step in and save the plan before the midterms heat up.
But the Supreme Court basically responded with a cold shrug.
Why does this matter? Because this is not just about Virginia. It is part of a nationwide political cage match over congressional maps as both parties scramble to redraw districts before November.
Texas Republicans already moved to strengthen their map. California Democrats fired back with their own redraw.
Now Virginia has become another major battlefield in the redistricting war that could decide who controls Washington.
Republicans currently hold slim majorities in both the House and Senate, and both parties know a few district lines can change the balance of power overnight.
Even more wild? Nearly $100 million was dumped into the Virginia referendum fight alone.
To most Virginians, it probably looked like just another random ballot question buried halfway down the page.
To both parties, though, it was political gold.
But in modern politics, maps are power.
And Friday’s ruling was a reminder that sometimes the most important election battles happen long before anyone actually votes.

GettyImages-1448513952

Supreme Court Has Final Word On Dem Hail Mary Over Virginia Map

Courts

Politics

Redistricting

SCOTUS

Supreme Court

Virginia

Democrats are up in arms over a decision by the Virginia Supreme Court that overturns their attempt to gerrymander the commonwealth’s Republican voters to the brink of oblivion. Virginia is considered a purple state where Kamala Harris won against Donald Trump by only about six percent of the voters, many of whom simply thought having an idiot president with a lunatic cackle might be the funnier choice.
But the gerrymander would have changed the commonwealth’s districts from a representative six blue versus five red, to an admittedly hilarious but totally unfair ten blue districts versus one red. The lone Republican district would be ringed in by high walls topped with barbed wire, while all voting booths would be located in the blue districts.
The court ruled that the ballot measure allowing the change violated procedural rules laid out in the Virginia Constitution under its &#8220;Don’t be a Schmuck&#8221; clause, which requires laws to be written by people who are not schmucks or can at least pretend not to be schmucks for ten straight minutes or, if that’s too much to ask, can at least ACT like they’re not schmucks for ten minutes even though everyone knows they are.
In a frantic group phone call among some of the Democratic Party’s top schmucks, schmucks from around the country expressed their concern at the court&#8217;s decision.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/andrew-klavan-ep-1279"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-974735 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-1024x171.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-1024x171.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-300x50.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-768x128.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-1536x256.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now.jpg 1800w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a huge schmuck, said the Virginia Court’s move was part of a nationwide conspiracy against the Democrat party. The schmuck said:
<blockquote>
“First, the Supreme Court tells us we can’t gerrymander by race, so black people will be allowed to share districts with white people. That’s exactly what we’ve been trying to put a stop to since the Republicans won the Civil War. If voters stopped voting for skin color and started passing judgment on policies, the Democratic Party would cease to exist. Next, the Virginia Supreme Court says we&#8217;re violating the rule of law, and I’m, like, ‘What? What the hell are they even talking about?’ And now, Republicans in Congress want to require voters to have picture identification, which would limit the electorate to living people who actually exist. That’s a blatant attempt to disenfranchise imaginary Democrats across and under this great nation. And the only reason the Republicans haven’t been able to pass a voter ID law supported by 84 percent of the people is that none of them realize yet that their Senate Leader, John Thune, passed away last August. They think he’s just totally ineffective. Wait till they find out we propped him up in his seat and had him embalmed!” 
</blockquote>
As the group phone call continued, the Democrats started to strategize how to overturn the court’s decision. One idea was to lower the required retirement age of Virginia judges from the current 73 years old to two, so that the present judges would have to step down and could be replaced by judges who don’t know what’s in the Constitution and are dependent on others to feed them, either because they’re only two years old or just because they’re Democrats, I’m not sure which.
Another idea was to wait till election night, pretend there were water main leaks in voting venues, stop the count, then smuggle in boxes of fake ballots, and get The New York Times to run articles claiming it was the least corrupt election ever. But that idea was ultimately rejected, because Democrats felt no one would fall for such a silly trick twice.
Finally, Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones, a stupid schmuck, tried to file a motion to overturn the Virginia Court’s ruling to the United States Supreme Court. Jones wrote the motion — and God help me, I am not making this part up — he wrote the motion in which the speaker of the “Virgnia” House of Delegates, appealed against a State “Sentator” and then he filed the misspelt motion with the VIRGINIA Supreme Court instead of the United States Supreme Court, which has no jurisdiction in the matter anyway. When told he should have used a hot little item called spellcheck to help him write the motion, Attorney General Jones remarked, “Oh good, there’s nothing I like better than a hot check. Maybe I can sentate her some flounders and show her around Virgnia.”

Jeffries

Dems Furious After Court Rules Republicans Allowed To Vote

Democrats

gerrymandering

Hakeem Jeffries

In a direct assault on the constitutional rights of law-abiding Virginians, Democratic Governor Abigail Spanberger signed a sweeping package of gun control measures, including a ban on commonly owned semi-automatic firearms and standard-capacity magazines.
Spanberger signed the legislation into law on Thursday, criminalizing the purchase, sale, manufacture, and importation of the AR-15 — the most popular rifle in America — along with a wide range of semi-automatic handguns and shotguns. The National Rifle Association responded immediately, filing a state lawsuit to block these unconstitutional mandates before the ink could even dry.
“Governor Spanberger has once again proven she has no concern for the right to keep and bear arms,” the NRA <a href="https://www.nraila.org/articles/20260514/virginia-spanberger-doubles-down-on-semi-auto-ban-nra-doubles-down-on-lawsuits">stated</a>.
While the governor attempted to frame her last-minute amendments as &#8220;technical changes,&#8221; the NRA has denounced them as a transparent attempt to rebrand blatant violations of the Second Amendment.
When she campaigned for governor, Spanberger <a href="https://virginiaindependentnews.com/elections/virginia-governor-2025-spanberger-earle-sears-gun-violence-safety-legislation/#:~:text=We%20need%20to%20strengthen%20Virginia's,officers%20safe%2C”%20Spanberger%20said.">studiously avoided</a> calling for the kind of ban she just signed, saying instead, &#8220;We need to strengthen Virginia’s safe storage laws, prevent the sale of large-capacity magazines, and crack down on criminals who manufacture and possess illegal, untraceable ghost guns — efforts that would keep Virginia’s kids, families, and law enforcement officers safe.&#8221;
The NRA’s lawsuit, Santolla v. Katz, filed in the Washington County Circuit Court, argues that the bans violate the arms guarantee in Article I, Section 13 of the Virginia Constitution. Because the Virginia Supreme Court has historically interpreted this provision as parallel with the Second Amendment, the NRA contends the state is barred from prohibiting firearms and magazines that are in common use for lawful purposes.
Joining the NRA as plaintiffs are the Virginia Shooting Sports Association (VSSA), local firearm dealers, and several Virginia citizens.
In addition to the firearm and magazine bans, Spanberger signed measures that prohibit the possession of weapons in hospitals providing mental health services, raise the age to purchase certain firearms to 21, and implement restrictive &#8220;safe storage&#8221; requirements that dictate how citizens must keep arms in their own homes.
The governor’s office cited &#8220;combat use&#8221; as a justification for the ban, but the NRA reminded the commonwealth that these firearms are used daily by millions of Americans for self-defense, hunting, and competitive shooting.
As the law is set to take effect on July 1, 2026, the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action said it is prepared to pursue every legal avenue to ensure that the fundamental rights of Virginians are not trampled by a hostile executive.
Along with the state lawsuit, the NRA also filed a federal lawsuit, McDonald v. Katz, with the Firearms Policy Coalition, the Second Amendment Foundation, and other individuals.

Abigail Spanberger Is Sworn In As First Female Virginia Governor

Democrat Governor Signs Sweeping Ban That Targets America’s Favorite Firearms

abigail spanberger

Guns

National Rifle Association (NRA)

Second Amendment

Virginia Democrats are gaslighting the American public after losing big on their redistricting gamble by attempting to sell a big lie to save face.
Prominent Democrats like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) are publicly complaining that because the Virginia Supreme Court issued its ruling — invalidating the newly-gerrymandered congressional map — after the referendum was over, the court should be under scrutiny for overturning the will of the people. What they are not saying is that Virginia Democrats demanded — in litigation filed with the court — that no ruling be issued until after the referendum was over.
&#8220;What is extremely disturbing about what has happened in Virginia is this court overturned the will of three million Virginians,&#8221; Ocasio-Cortez told reporters. While 3 million Virginians did vote on the referendum, only a little over half (1.6 million) voted in favor of the measure.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
AOC: What is extremely disturbing about what has happened in Virginia is this court overturned the will of three million Virginians. They can say what they want about the ballot initiative, but they explicitly chose to issue this ruling after the election happened. They had all… <a href="https://t.co/NC7kUsMikB">pic.twitter.com/NC7kUsMikB</a>
— Acyn (@Acyn) <a href="https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/2054357562620010862?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 13, 2026</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;They can say what they want about the ballot initiative, but they explicitly chose to issue this ruling after the election happened. They had all the time in the world to issue an opinion or an injunction before allowing this election to happen,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;They did not overturn a map — they overturned an election &#8230; It is the power of the American people that should be the ultimate check on all three branches.&#8221;
<a href="https://x.com/AdamParkhomenko/status/2052823708662649095">Adam Parkhomenko</a>, who served as an adviser to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, amplified a Bluesky account making the same argument. That argument was that the court, in waiting until after the election, was making its ruling — and thus invalidating the new map — after gaining only one new piece of information: how the people would vote on the issue.
&#8220;The best argument re: Virginia decision I’ve heard is this,&#8221; he said.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) issued a statement immediately after the ruling, trashing the Virginia Supreme Court for overturning the will of the people.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The decision by the Virginia Supreme Court to overturn the will of more than three million voters will not stand. <a href="https://t.co/ZtayVJRw4T">pic.twitter.com/ZtayVJRw4T</a>
— Hakeem Jeffries (@RepJeffries) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepJeffries/status/2052776800984416429?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 8, 2026</a></blockquote>
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But as Justice D. Arthur Kelsey wrote in his May 8 opinion, the delay had been the Democrats&#8217; idea. In fact, they had presented several legal arguments in favor of it, citing precedent and saying that the court could not lawfully rule on the validity of the measure until it was adopted.
&#8220;It is fair to ask whether we could have or should have reviewed the constitutionality of the proposed amendment prior to it being presented to the voters,&#8221; Kelsey wrote. &#8220;Throughout this litigation, the Commonwealth has insisted that we cannot lawfully decide this case prior to the referendum. In its motion for a stay in this case, the Commonwealth argued that longstanding Virginia precedent, Scott v. James, was &#8216;virtually indistinguishable&#8217; from this case and that it clearly held that &#8216;courts cannot interfere to stop any of the proceedings while this permanent law is in the process of being made,&#8217; and &#8216;[o]nly ‘upon the completion of the proceedings, [if] the validity of the amendment is assailed[] on the ground that the several provisions of the Constitution have not been complied with, then the courts can pass upon the validity of the amendment.'&#8221;
Kelsey also made it clear that the court was well aware that Democrats would attempt to turn the argument back on itself if they did not get their way, adding, &#8220;Having successfully insisted (over the objection of the Claimants)13 that we postpone judicial review of the constitutional amendment until after the election process, it might be tempting for the Commonwealth to think that the final vote implicitly stacks the deck in its favor — perhaps enough so that the exercise of any judicial review could be viewed as an ultra vires effort to overturn the will of the people.&#8221;
He concluded that Democrats were essentially attempting to set up a situation in which precedent prohibited the court from ruling before the referendum passed and &#8220;the will of the people&#8221; barred the court from ruling afterward — thus nullifying the court&#8217;s ability to act at all.
And Democrats like Ocasio-Cortez are quickly proving him right.

US-ENVIRONMENT-CLIMATE-DIPLOMACY

Democrats Try To Gaslight America After Redistricting Faceplant

Democrats Attempt To Sell Big Lie In Virginia

Media

Virginia Democrats

Virginia Democrats are desperate to grab onto anything that could potentially resurrect their gerrymandered 10-1 congressional map before the 2026 midterm elections — and the panic is really starting to show.
In the days since the Virginia Supreme Court struck down the map — over irregularities in the process by which it was adopted — Democrats have explored several avenues by which they might make their fever dream a reality.
An attempt to appeal to the United States Supreme Court, for example, was so rushed that the first page of the filing listed the wrong court.
&#8220;Good News: Dems managed to spell Virginia correctly. Bad News: They sent their emergency application to SCOTUS to the wrong court. Baby steps,&#8221; former Attorney General Jason Miyares (R-VA) posted via X, sharing a screenshot of the page.
Although the &#8220;Supreme Court of the United States&#8221; was named at the top of the page, across the bottom of the frame, it read, &#8220;ON EMERGENCY APPLICATION TO THE SUPREME COURT OF VIRGINIA.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Good News: Dems managed to spell Virginia correctly. Bad News: They sent their emergency application to SCOTUS to the wrong court. Baby steps. <a href="https://t.co/Izi5FeKgbo">pic.twitter.com/Izi5FeKgbo</a>
— Jason Miyares (@JasonMiyaresVA) <a href="https://twitter.com/JasonMiyaresVA/status/2054155473763393573?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 12, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Others pointed out that the word &#8220;senator&#8221; was misspelled as &#8220;sentator&#8221; and even the name of the state was misspelled as &#8220;Virgnia&#8221; in the rushed filing.
The case was ultimately filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, and Chief Justice John Roberts has instructed Republicans to file a response to the Democrats by Thursday at 5 p.m. ET.
In addition to their appeal to the highest Court, Democrats in Virginia have also considered an even more dramatic move to force their map on the people: a complete dismantling of the state Supreme Court.
As The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/democrats-float-dramatic-shakeup-that-could-force-out-virginias-entire-supreme-court">previously reported</a>, Virginia Democrats have considered lowering the mandatory retirement age for judges on the state&#8217;s highest court just enough to force the entire bench to retire. Then, with a Democratic governor and a Democratic super-majority in the legislature, they could ensure an entirely new bench that would be far more likely to rule in their favor.

Jay Jones

Dems Desperate To Force New Map On Voters Mark Case For Wrong Court

Last Friday, the Supreme Court of Virginia issued its <a href="https://www.vacourts.gov/static/opinions/opnscvwp/1260127.pdf">decision</a>, striking down Virginia Democrats’ attempt to redraw the Commonwealth’s congressional map. Had the map been allowed to stand, Democrats would have been favored to win 10 of the state’s 11 congressional seats in the 2026 midterms, with Republicans favored in just one. This would have represented a massive change from the current, more balanced map, in which six congressional seats are held by Democrats and five by Republicans. That current map far more accurately reflects Virginia’s electorate, where Kamala Harris won 52% to 46% in the 2024 presidential election.
The Democrats were, of course, free to try to execute their power grab if they followed the law. Unlike other states, however, it was not as simple as passing a new law with new maps. Instead, there is the Virginia Constitution with which to contend, namely, amending the Commonwealth’s Constitution to undo what was done in 2020. Then the constitution was amended to reform the redistricting process by creating an independent redistricting commission. The bill for that constitutional amendment, passed by the Virginia legislature with Democratic majorities in both houses, was signed by Democratic Governor Ralph Northam, and Virginia voters overwhelmingly adopted it by 66% to 34%.
Unfortunately for Democrats, the Virginia Supreme Court correctly concluded that the Democrats did not follow the Virginia Constitution’s amendment process. Specifically, the Virginia Constitution requires that any amendment be passed in two separate legislative sessions divided by an intervening election of the House of Delegates. Because the legislature passed its proposed redistricting amendment on October 31, 2025 — after 1.3 million Virginians had already voted during 42 days of early voting — the court determined that the amendment passed during an election, not before one, as the state constitution mandates.
The Virginia Supreme Court’s decision is well-reasoned and grounded in Virginia’s foundational document: the Virginia Constitution. The Court is historically traditionalist, not known for issuing politically motivated or even controversial decisions. Nevertheless, Democrats immediately threw a temper tantrum that would make Veruca Salt look well-behaved in Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.
And, it didn’t take long for the histrionics. Virginia’s Lieutenant Governor Ghazala Hashmi <a href="https://x.com/ltgovhashmi/status/2052858038654992552?s=20">posted on X</a> that “[t]he Virginia Supreme Court’s decision to block a redistricting referendum that Virginians voted for is part of a broader national assault on our democratic institutions.” Hashmi’s knee-jerk act of name-calling, although predictable, reveals her desire to delegitimize the rule of law, the independent judiciary, and the Virginia Constitution itself.
Then there is Attorney General Jay Jones, perhaps best known for <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/news/dem-ag-nominee-jay-jones-fantasized-about-shooting-former-virginia-gop-speaker-he-receives-both-bullets/">fantasizing about his political opponents and their children being murdered</a>. He accused the Virginia Supreme Court of “silenc[ing] the voices of millions of Virginians” and “fuel[ing] the growing fears across our nation about the state of our democracy.” Jones, supposedly Virginia’s top attorney, went on to claim that the “Republican-led majority of the Supreme Court of Virginia contorted the plain language of the Constitution and Code of Virginia to give it a meaning that was never intended, which allowed them to reach the wrong legal conclusion that fit their political agenda.” Perhaps Jones — whose office will need to appear before those same justices over the next four years — should have read <a href="https://vsb.org/Site/Site/about/rules-regulations/rpc-part6-sec2.aspx">Rule 8.2 of the Virginia Rules of Professional Responsibility</a>, which provides, “[a] lawyer shall not make a statement that the lawyer knows to be false or with reckless disregard as to its truth or falsity concerning the qualifications or integrity of a judge or other judicial officer.”
But Jones wasn’t finished demonstrating why he isn’t qualified to be attorney general. Within hours after the decision, his office <a href="https://x.com/Jaaavis/status/2052850404535222721/photo/1">filed a motion</a> to delay the Virginia Supreme Court from issuing its mandate. Why? So that he could appeal to the United States Supreme Court, a decision by the Virginia Supreme Court that rested solely on the Virginia Constitution. His appeal was dead on arrival at SCOTUS, and one really must question the competence of an attorney general who files a motion <a href="https://x.com/JasonMiyaresVA/status/2052913817626030469?s=20">misspelling</a> his own state — “Virgnia” — and then mangles “Senator” into “Sentator.”
Over the weekend, Virginia Democrats’ comedy of errors turned dark and dangerous. It started with a Substack post from <a href="https://law.msu.edu/faculty-staff/y/quinn--yeargain">Michigan State Law Professor Quinn Yeargain</a> (“They/them/theirs”), who suggested that Virginia Democrats should lower the retirement age for Supreme Court justices from 73 to 54 — a move that would clear out the court and allow the legislature to appoint new justices willing to let the redistricting scheme go forward. This insane proposal would never be taken seriously by respectable lawmakers who value our core foundational principles, such as an independent judiciary. Not so fast. On Sunday, the New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/10/us/politics/democrats-virginia-plans-gerrymandering.html">reported</a> that Democratic House members from Virginia and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries discussed just such a plan to replace the entire Virginia Supreme Court. Suhas Subramanyam, the Democratic Congressman who represents Loudoun County, Virginia, told the New York Times that he would indeed back such a plan.
Yet the Jeffries-Subramanyam plot to end the rule of law and judicial independence in Virginia may be a bridge too far for Virginia’s Democratic state legislators. State Senate Leader Scott Surovell poured cold water on the proposal, calling it extreme and saying he wants to work within the existing legal system. Who knew that Democrats operating within the law would be so novel a concept that it would require such a statement? Unsurprisingly, we have not yet heard from Governor Abigail Spanberger, who has apparently not yet received her badge of courage from the Wizard of Oz.
The scariest thing about the Jeffries-Subramanyam plot is not that it could work — it won’t. It is that Washington’s Democratic Party’s leadership admits publicly their willingness to go to such extreme measures to scrap a state constitution, eviscerate the rule of law, and terminate judicial independence, all in search of a few more congressional seats. One does not need to be Nostradamus to predict what will happen if Democrats gain control of the presidency, the House, and the Senate in 2028. They will immediately scrap the filibuster and ram through new laws granting citizenship to illegal aliens, open the border, raise tax rates to astronomical levels, create a single-payer health care system, mainstream the transgender agenda, and whatever else the likes of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez can conjure.
No longer needing the 60-vote threshold, they will effectively shred the Constitution and the checks and balances guaranteed by an independent judiciary by packing the United States Supreme Court with five more Ketanji Brown Jacksons. No longer will laws and lawmakers be limited by the vision of the Founding Fathers or by the guardrails against the tyranny of the majority maintained by our founding document. Instead, the judiciary will become a rubber stamp for far-left legislation, destroying civil liberties, federalism, and the greatest system of governance yet known to man.
There should no longer be any doubt about the left’s assault on America’s values, its institutions, and the United States Constitution. What started as a fringe movement on the Left has now infected the highest levels of Democratic leadership in this country. Benjamin Franklin famously said of our government that it is “[a] republic, if you can keep it.” The battle to keep our republic has become even more urgent and existential after this past weekend in Virginia.
***
Ian Prior is senior counsel at America First Legal and former deputy director of Public Affairs at the Department of Justice.

Abigail Spanberger Sworn In As Virginia Governor

Democrats Go Full Insane Mode After Virginia Court Enforces Rule of Law

DW Opinion

Democrats are considering a radical plan to forcibly replace the entire Virginia Supreme Court after Democrat-favorable congressional maps were struck down last week. 
A proposal to force out the current court by lowering the mandatory retirement age for justices was considered Friday during a call with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and top Virginia Democrats, the New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/10/us/politics/democrats-virginia-plans-gerrymandering.html">reported</a>. The plan would force out all current justices and give the legislature, narrowly controlled by Democrats, the opportunity to pack it with more partisan justices. 
A case would then be brought to challenge the creation of Virginia&#8217;s so-called independent redistricting commission. If that commission was struck down, Democrats could then draw new election maps to their favor.
The proposal would involve lowering the retirement age from 75 to at least 54, the age of the youngest justice currently on the bench. That plan was openly supported by Democratic Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, a participant in the call. 
“Everyone has got to have a strong stomach right now; this is a complete disaster waiting to happen if people are timid,” he told the Times. “We have Republican states ignoring their constitutions and interrupting early voting and ignoring their Supreme Courts all together. We know based on that, Republicans would explore every single option possible to move this forward.”
The map struck down as unconstitutional on Friday was expected to give Democrats a 10-1 advantage in Virginia’s House delegation come November, up from their current 6-5 edge. In a 4-3 decision, Virginia&#8217;s Supreme Court ruled that the state&#8217;s &#8220;violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void.&#8221; 
Jeffries has suggested appealing to the Supreme Court, though it is unclear what grounds the nation’s high court would weigh in on. 
Voters in Virginia narrowly approved the new gerrymandered maps in April after Democrat-aligned groups spent over $64 million supporting redistricting. 
Campaign filings show that <a href="https://www.virginiansforfairelections.com/">Virginians for Fair Elections</a>, the leading Democrat-aligned group backing the gerrymandered map, <a href="https://cfreports.elections.virginia.gov/Committee/Index/a5d5d000-0875-419d-b056-4245a6cca40f">raised</a> more than $64 million between January and April 2026. That total was more than double the amount raised by Republican-aligned groups opposing redistricting.
Much of the money raised came from House Majority Forward, which contributed nearly $39 million, according to campaign filings. The group describes itself as a “progressive, non-profit organization committed to promoting economic growth and opportunity, social justice, environmental stewardship, and democracy in the United States of America.”
The ruling by the court meant that Republicans appeared to have come out ahead in the nationwide redistricting battle, with states like Tennessee and Florida adopting new maps expected to make their congressional delegations redder.

CBC VRA Presser

Democrats Float Dramatic Shakeup That Could Force Out Virginia’s Entire Supreme Court

2026 Midterms

U.S. Politics

Last October, then-Attorney General Jason Miyares (R-VA) warned Democrats that their unconstitutional redistricting gamble would do little more than waste the taxpayers&#8217; time and money.
The Virginia Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the newly-drawn congressional map — which skews dramatically in favor of Democrats — is flagrantly unconstitutional. But when all was said and done, as Miyares pointed out, the measure had already run up a $70 million tab — some of which was to be paid by taxpayers.
HB 1384, the amendment that set the special election, set aside $5 million of taxpayer money in order to pay for that election — but it did not cap the amount, meaning that supplemental funding may have been added to that as needed.
In addition to the taxpayer dollars, millions were spent on ads promoting the measure.
&#8220;If Abigail Spanberger and Virginia Democrats had paid attention my October 2025 AG’s Opinion that made clear this scheme was unconstitutional and illegal, they could have saved more than $70 million, countless headaches, and months of obnoxious television ads defending the indefensible,&#8221; Miyares said in a statement posted to X. &#8220;Instead, they ignored the law, wasted taxpayer money on running a special election, and dragged Virginians through a completely avoidable mess.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
If Abigail Spanberger and Virginia Democrats had paid attention my October 2025 AG’s Opinion that made clear this scheme was unconstitutional and illegal, they could have saved more than $70 million, countless headaches, and months of obnoxious television ads defending the… <a href="https://t.co/787vvZRHZD">https://t.co/787vvZRHZD</a>
— Jason Miyares (@JasonMiyaresVA) <a href="https://twitter.com/JasonMiyaresVA/status/2052756571243909513?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 8, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Miyares issued his opinion on October 28, 2025, saying in part, &#8220;My office just issued an official opinion explaining that the constitutionally required process to amend the Virginia Constitution cannot be short-circuited by a last-minute vote of the General Assembly taken during an ongoing election.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
My office just issued an official opinion explaining that the constitutionally required process to amend the Virginia Constitution cannot be short-circuited by a last-minute vote of the General Assembly taken during an ongoing election. <a href="https://t.co/vKWweCbKSp">pic.twitter.com/vKWweCbKSp</a>
— Jason Miyares (@JasonMiyaresVA) <a href="https://twitter.com/JasonMiyaresVA/status/1983219332579512689?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The Virginia Supreme Court ultimately <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/virginia-supreme-court-strikes-down-redistricting-in-brutal-blow-to-democrats">agreed with Miyares</a>, ruling on Friday 4-3 that irregularities in the process had resulted in a new map that would not stand.
&#8220;In this case, the Commonwealth submitted a proposed constitutional amendment to Virginia voters in an unprecedented manner that violated the intervening-election requirement in Article XII, Section 1 of the Constitution of Virginia,&#8221; the Court held, adding, &#8220;This violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void.&#8221;
So the Commonwealth of Virginia is right back where it started — albeit a bit poorer — for the Democrats&#8217; efforts to put a thumb in the midterm scales.

Virginia Gubernatorial Candidate Abigail Spanberger Speaks At An Everytown For Gun Safety Rally

How Much Virginians Paid For Democrats To Gerrymander Their Map

Jason Miyares

Tens of millions of dollars spent by Virginia Democrats to shift the state’s congressional delegation blue may have been for nothing after the state Supreme Court struck down the proposed map on Friday. 
Campaign filings show that <a href="https://www.virginiansforfairelections.com/">Virginians for Fair Elections</a>, the leading Democrat-aligned group backing the gerrymandered map, <a href="https://cfreports.elections.virginia.gov/Committee/Index/a5d5d000-0875-419d-b056-4245a6cca40f">raised</a> more than $64 million between January and April 2026. That total was more than double the amount raised by Republican-aligned groups opposing redistricting. 
The map, approved by voters last month, would have shifted the congressional delegation from its current 6-5 Democrat edge to a 10-1 advantage. 
Virginians for Fair Elections <a href="https://x.com/FairElectionsVA/status/2046772351371464747">said</a> that the map was necessary “to fight back against Trump’s attempts to rig the 2026 midterm elections.”
Much of the money raised came from House Majority Forward, which contributed nearly $39 million, according to campaign filings. The group describes itself as a “progressive, non-profit organization committed to promoting economic growth and opportunity, social justice, environmental stewardship, and democracy in the United States of America.”
House Majority Forward is classified as a 501(c)(4) social welfare <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/donate/house-majority-forward-1">organization</a>, meaning it does not have to publicly disclose its donors. 
Other similar dark money groups donated millions. The Fairness Project <a href="https://www.vpap.org/money/top-donors/">gave more</a> than $12 million, the Fund for Policy Reform donated $5 million, American Opportunity Action contributed $3.6 million, and the Global Impact Social Welfare Fund added $1.5 million. These groups frequently bankroll liberal causes, from abortion to election laws. 
Additionally, the Democratic Party of Virginia contributed more than $977,000. 
Republican-aligned groups spent around $30 million to oppose the map. After the results of the April referendum, some commentators criticized the Republican Party over the spending gap. 
Virginians for Fair Maps <a href="https://www.vpap.org/donors/597811/recipient/597811/?start_year=2026&amp;end_year=2027&amp;recip_type=all">raised</a> more than $21 million, while the Per Aspera Policy group contributed $7.2 million to Justice for Democracy’s campaign against the redistricting plan.
Conservative commentators mocked the groups for spending so much money on the campaign, only for it to be struck down in a 4-3 decision. 
“Democrats incinerated nearly $70 million on an unconstitutional gerrymandering scheme in Virginia,” <a href="https://x.com/SteveGuest/status/2052754037942919204">said</a> Steve Guest, a former spokesman for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).

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Virginia Ruling Leaves Democrats With A Hefty Bill

2026 elections

House of Representatives

The nationwide battle for congressional seats shifted dramatically Friday after Virginia’s Supreme Court struck down the state&#8217;s Democrat-favored congressional map, even as Republican-led states across the South charge ahead to redraw their own.
The Virginia ruling undercuts what Democrats had expected to be a 10-1 advantage in the state&#8217;s House delegation. Instead, the map reverts to a narrower 6-5 Democrat edge that was in place before the April special election, giving Republicans a clearer path to compete. 
The decision comes on the heels of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last week striking down requirements for black-majority districts in Southern states, prompting a wave of redistricting efforts in Republican-led states. 
Florida and Tennessee have already approved new maps, with more red states likely to follow. 
Tennessee lawmakers on Thursday <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/brutal-blow-for-democrats-in-red-state-sparks-leftist-outrage?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Brutal+Blow+For+Democrats+In+Red+State+Sparks+Leftist+Outrage">approved</a> a congressional map expected to hand Republicans control of all nine of the Volunteer State’s congressional districts come November. The map, signed by Republican Gov. Bill Lee, spreads out the heavily Democratic population centers in Memphis and Nashville across multiple Republican-favorable districts. 
The new map is likely to eliminate Tennessee’s lone Democratic seat, currently held by Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis. 
In Florida, lawmakers led by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/florida-passes-new-maps-that-could-threaten-multiple-democratic-seats">passed</a> new district lines projected to give Republicans four additional House seats. The changes target Democratic-leaning areas in Tampa, Orlando, and South Florida, aiming to flip those districts to Republican control.
Alabama could be next. Lawmakers are considering legislation that would produce a congressional map favoring Republicans 6-1, shifting one seat away from Democrats. 
Prior to the Supreme Court decision last week, Alabama was forced to maintain one majority-black district and a second with a near-majority black population under an interpretation of the Voting Rights Act that has now been ruled an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. 
Lawmakers in Louisiana, South Carolina, and Mississippi are also reviewing potential redistricting plans that could further shift even more seats to Republicans. 
President Donald Trump called on states to redraw maps after the Supreme Court decision last week. 
“We cannot allow there to be an Election that is conducted unconstitutionally simply for the ‘convenience’ of State Legislatures,” Trump said Sunday. “If they have to vote twice, so be it. We should demand that State Legislatures do what the Supreme Court says must be done. That is more important than administrative convenience. The byproduct is that the Republicans will receive more than 20 House Seats in the upcoming Midterms.”

Tennessee Governor Signs Trump-Backed Redistricting Plan

Virginia Ruling Reshapes Redistricting Battle For House Control

Florida

Tennessee

The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday invalidated a state referendum that would have allowed Democrats to pick up five blue seats, delivering a devastating blow in the party&#8217;s redistricting battle with Republicans.  
In April, voters narrowly approved a redistricting referendum that diluted the voting power of rural areas and gave state Democrats a 10–1 advantage in Congressional representation.
<a href="https://www.vacourts.gov/static/opinions/opnscvwp/1260127.pdf">In a 4-3 ruling</a>, the Supreme Court of Virginia struck down the referendum, ruling that Democratic lawmakers violated procedural rules.
&#8220;In this case, the Commonwealth submitted a proposed constitutional amendment to Virginia voters in an unprecedented manner that violated the intervening-election requirement in Article XII, Section 1 of the Constitution of Virginia. This violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void,&#8221; the court ruled.
President Donald Trump celebrated the ruling <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116539521227824996">on Truth Social</a>.
&#8220;Huge win for the Republican Party, and America, in Virginia. The Virginia Supreme Court has just struck down the Democrats’ horrible gerrymander. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!&#8221;
The decision marks a stinging defeat for Governor Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), who aggressively pursued the measure, despite previously saying she had “<a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5469556-governor-spanberger-redistricting-plans/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">no plans</a>” to pursue redistricting.
“Justice has been served. From the beginning, this was the most obvious violation of Virginia’s Constitution. Abigail Spanberger and Democrats in Richmond knowingly violated our constitution to disenfranchise millions of Virginians,” former <a href="https://x.com/GlennYoungkin/status/2052754158844096555?s=20">Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Younkin said</a>. “The Constitution prevailed, and Virginians will never forget this unlawful attempt to rob them of their voice in Congress.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom had a different reaction, claiming <a href="https://x.com/GavinNewsom/status/2052770598368264693?s=20">&#8220;MAGA has rigged the system.&#8221;</a>
Tossing out the 10-1 Democratic maps reflects an intensifying nationwide redistricting fight that may favor Republicans ahead of the November midterm elections.
On Thursday, Tennessee Republican lawmakers enacted a new congressional map that would wipe out the last Democratic congressional seat. In late April, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a congressional map that could eliminate up to four blue seats. Louisiana, Alabama, and South Carolina are also expected to redraw their maps after the Supreme Court sharply restricted the use of race-based redistricting.
This is a breaking story. Refresh the page for updates.

Virginia Democrats Seek To Redraw House Maps In 2026 Midterm Push

Virginia Supreme Court Strikes Down Redistricting In Brutal Blow To Democrats

When FBI agents and an armored vehicle rolled into a Portsmouth strip mall on Wednesday morning and ordered employees of a cannabis dispensary out with their hands up, Virginia Democrats had their narrative ready before the agents had finished bagging evidence. Sen. L. Louise Lucas, the most powerful Democrat in Richmond and the co-owner of the dispensary in question, declared that the search of her legislative office and her business was “about power and who is allowed to use it on behalf of the people.” House Speaker Don Scott blamed President Donald Trump’s “abuse of the Department of Justice.” Congressman Bobby Scott invoked the redistricting referendum Lucas had championed two weeks earlier. The Virginia Legislative Black Caucus warned of “personal political persecution.” Attorney General Jay Jones suggested the public should distrust the U.S. Attorney’s Office. 
There is one inconvenient fact that none of them addressed. 
The corruption probe that produced Wednesday’s warrants did not begin on January 20, 2025. It did not begin under Attorney General Pam Bondi or FBI Director Kash Patel. It began under former President Joe Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and FBI Director Christopher Wray. CNN reported, citing a source familiar with the matter, that the searches are part of a federal corruption investigation related to marijuana dispensaries that opened during the prior administration. The New York Times confirmed the same timeline. The investigation predates the redistricting fight by years, predates Trump’s second term entirely, and was approved at every step by a Justice Department that Democrats themselves repeatedly described as the most professional in modern history. 
That alone collapses the political-persecution defense. But the public record offers more. 
In April, a federal grand jury indicted Carlton Upton Jr. on three felony counts of wire fraud. Upton owns one of the dispensaries searched on Wednesday and, according to local reporting, previously worked with Lucas as a business partner. Federal prosecutors do not obtain wire fraud indictments from grand juries on a hunch, and they certainly do not execute coordinated raids on a sitting state senator’s office, her business, and additional locations across the Commonwealth without a federal magistrate first reviewing a sworn affidavit and finding probable cause. A judge signed those warrants. Whether or not Lucas herself is ever charged, something in the underlying conduct of this enterprise persuaded a court that evidence of federal crimes was likely to be found inside her office.
The Democratic response has been to act as if none of this matters. Lucas’s own statement did not address the substance of the investigation at all. She did not deny wrongdoing. She did not explain her financial relationship with the dispensary or with Upton. She pivoted directly to redistricting and Donald Trump. That is the move of a politician whose lawyers have told her not to engage on the merits, dressed up as a press release about democracy. 
Speaker Scott’s complaint that Fox News appeared on the scene before local outlets is similarly beside the point. Reporters are constantly tipped off about federal raids. The interesting question is not who arrived first at the parking lot. The interesting question is what was inside the boxes that agents carried out. 
There is a broader pattern worth noticing here, and it has nothing to do with Trump. Virginia legalized adult marijuana possession in 2021, but never built a functioning legal retail market. Into that vacuum stepped a gray-market industry of “gifting” shops, hemp-derived THC outlets, and storefronts operating in legal twilight, several of them with politically connected ownership. Sen. Lucas has been one of the General Assembly’s loudest advocates for expanding cannabis commerce, including legislation that would have routed tax revenue from sales into state coffers. When a state’s most powerful budget writer is also a co-owner of businesses operating in the very industry she is trying to regulate and tax, the conditions for federal interest are not manufactured by the White House. They are created by the senator. 
Virginians are entitled to a presumption of innocence for Sen. Lucas, and she will receive one. What she is not entitled to is the conversion of every serious federal investigation involving a Democrat into a referendum on Donald Trump. Wednesday’s raid was authorized by a federal judge, executed pursuant to a probe opened under a Democratic administration, and follows a federal indictment of her former business partner. The political-persecution script does not survive contact with the calendar. 
The voters of the Commonwealth deserve to know what happened in those Portsmouth offices. They will not learn it from a press release that mentions Donald Trump six times and the underlying facts zero.
***
Del. Wren Williams represents Virginia&#8217;s 47th House District (Patrick County and surrounding area). He is an attorney and a member of the House Republican Caucus.

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Virginia Democrats’ Weed Bust Corruption Defense Goes Up In Smoke

Sen. L. Louise Lucas

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