The Republican National Committee (RNC) is taking legal steps to stop dead in its tracks the Democrat Party's egregious attempt to gerrymander Virginia's congressional map. In a lawsuit filed Wednesday against the Virginia Department of Elections, the RNC seeks to halt an April referendum that was given a green light last week by the Supreme Court of Virginia (SCOVA).
“Emergency relief is needed to prevent the transmission of a defective proposal for constitutional amendment to Virginia voters that violates the Commonwealth’s Constitution and an order of this Court,” the complaint states.
As RedState previously reported, a judge in Tazewell County ruled in January against the attempt by Democrats to override an existing amendment to the state constitution – which was approved by voters in November of 2020 – that stripped redistricting responsibilities away from state lawmakers and transferred them to a nonpartisan commission. The April 21 referendum is asking voters to approve a new amendment that would return redistricting power to the legislature; Democrats control both houses of the General Assembly, meaning they'll have unlimited power to approve any map they want.
READ MORE: Virginia Supreme Court Hands Dems Huge Win, Allows Outrageous Gerrymander to Move Forward
Virginia Democrats Just Engineered the Most Extreme Gerrymander in the Country
Democrats debuted their desired new congressional map last week, and it sets up their party to seize four districts currently represented by Republicans. The current map has a 6-5 D-R split in Virginia; if the referendum is approved, that split will become 10-1.
SCOVA, for its part, said last week the referendum vote can continue as scheduled, and indicated it will consider the merits of the lower-court ruling after the ballots are cast.
The RNC lawsuit challenges the language being used in the referendum, arguing it is overtly partisan. Here's how it reads:
“Should the constitution of Virginia be amended to allow the General Assembly to temporarily adopt new congressional districts to restore fairness in the upcoming elections, while ensuring Virginia’s standard redistricting process resumes for all future redistricting after the 2030 census?”
The word "fairness" is problematic, argues the RNC. “It does not tell Virginia voters that the proposed amendment that they are considering strips them of their constitutional right to a nonpartisan redistricting process,” they write in the brief. “The ballot question asserts a misleading statement — if not an obvious falsehood — that the proposed constitutional amendment contained in HJR 6007 ‘restores fairness.’ If anything, it destroys fairness, is the product of unfairness and is intended to increase unfairness."
RNC Chairman Joe Gruters said of the lawsuit:
Virginia Democrats are trying to ram through an illegal redistricting scheme that a court has already called a blatant abuse of power.
Despite nearly half of Virginians supporting President Trump, Abigail Spanberger and Democrats are working to silence voters and lock in permanent political control. They’re ignoring the state Constitution, misleading voters, and rushing a sham election.
Democrats are balking at the legal pushback from Republicans. One the gerrymandered map's chief architects, Democrat Speaker of the House of Delegates Don Scott, remarked, “Republicans are terrified of the ballot box. The Supreme Court of Virginia has already requested a briefing and approved the referendum going forward as planned. This is yet another attempt to judge shop a complaint to a friendly venue after the Supreme Court refused their earlier efforts. Voters will decide this referendum.”
Two Republicans who could lose their congressional seats if the new map is approved, Reps. Ben Cline and Morgan Griffith, joined the RNC in the lawsuit.
Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
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