Virginia Democrats lose Supreme Court bid to restore map
The supreme court rejected Virginia Democrats’ emergency bid to restore their proposed congressional map, leaving the state to move ahead under its current lines. Gov. Abigail Spanberger said Virginia’s May 12 deadline for map changes means this year’s elections will proceed without a new map.
Spanberger said she is focused on the fall midterm elections and on keeping voters motivated to turn out. She also said, “What needs to happen is we need to focus on the task at hand, which is winning races in November.”
Spanberger on November turnout
At a bill signing at Inova Schar Cancer Institute on Wednesday, Spanberger tied the court fight to turnout in the next two election stages. Virginia’s primaries are scheduled for Aug. 4, and the November general election will follow.
She said, “that people know that their votes do matter, and that when it comes to the ballot they’re going to cast — whether it’s for a primary over the summer or for the general election into the fall — that they shouldn’t feel depleted or defeated, that their votes matter.”
Spanberger also said she believes Virginia will win two to four seats in the House of Representatives, and that more than three million people took part in the rare April special election.
Virginia Supreme Court ruling
The fight narrowed after Virginia’s Supreme Court struck down the Democrat-led redistricting push in a 4-3 opinion issued Friday morning. That ruling left Democrats with no state-level path to replace the map before the filing deadline passed.
John Roberts gave Republicans until Thursday evening to respond to Democrats’ emergency appeal, but the U.S. Supreme Court still rejected the request. Spanberger said, “I think I certainly would have wanted to, and did want to, see a different outcome with the Supreme Court ruling.”
Current map for Virginia
The current congressional map will be used for the summer primaries and for November, ending the immediate push to redraw Virginia’s districts for this cycle. Spanberger said elected officials will have to work to make sure people understand their votes still count, even after the redistricting fight and the April referendum vote were overturned by the state court.
