House Majority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) speaks with reporters on his way to his office after a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on March 27, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Samuel Corum | Getty Images
A Virginia circuit court judge on Wednesday issued an order blocking the results of a congressional redistricting referendum that could give Democrats four seats in the House in 2026.
Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones vowed in a statement to fight an order issued by Republican-appointed Tazewell County Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley a day after newly drawn districts were approved in a referendum on Tuesday.
“My office intends to immediately appeal to the Court of Appeals,” Jones said.
“As I said last night, Virginia voters have spoken and activist judges should not have the power to veto the people’s vote,” the attorney general said. “We look forward to defending last night’s election results in court.”
Virginia’s redistricting referendum, the latest battleground in the partisan gerrymandering war ahead of November’s midterm elections, passed by a three-point margin.
The measure would allow the temporary adoption of new district boundaries, but would return control of redistricting to an independent commission in 2031.
In a final ruling issued Wednesday, Hawley ruled in favor of a lawsuit filed by the Republican National Committee challenging the legality of the referendum.
The judge said the referendum question was invalid because it was “ab initio” (Latin for “from the beginning”).
“All votes for or against the proposed constitutional amendment in the April 21, 2026 special election will be null and void,” Hawley wrote.
He prohibited the state from taking any action to update or change precincts or voter registration records as a result of the referendum.
Earlier Wednesday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries struck a defiant tone following the Democratic victory in Virginia.
“House Democrats will continue to fight fight after fight on behalf of the American people,” Congressman Jeffries said at a news conference at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, apparently with Paul Thomas Anderson’s Best Picture Oscar winner in mind.
“Last night was a huge victory for the people of Virginia. It was a huge victory for America, and it was a huge victory for democracy. (President) Donald Trump and the Republican Party started this gerrymandering war, and we’ve made it clear as Democrats that we’re going to end it,” Jeffries continued. “We will not allow Donald Trump to rig the midterm elections.”
The Trump administration argued that the ballot initiative was not a clear victory for Democrats.
James Blair, White House deputy chief of staff and political advisor to President Trump, appeared on CNN’s “Inside Politics with Dana Bash” on Wednesday and said, “This is a state that is 15 points behind Democrats for governor and about 8 points behind for attorney general in November 2025.”
“Last night, this was a three-point contest. This was actually three points ahead of President Trump’s historic performance in Virginia in 2024,” Blair said.
“As a baseline, to all the Democrats who are cheering this morning, if the Republicans perform as close to average as they did in Virginia last night, they will not only gain seats in the Senate, they will gain seats in the House of Representatives, and we will have a historic midterm election,” Blair said.
A victory could give Democrats control of the House of Representatives.
However, the results in Virginia are likely to be a boost for Democrats, who were already seen as favorites to regain the House majority in November. It also effectively nullifies the advantage Republicans have gained as a result of their own redistricting efforts.
“Virginia voters spoke and tonight approved a temporary measure to push back against a president who claims he is ‘entitled’ to increase Republican seats,” Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat who campaigned for the resolution, said in a statement after the results were announced late Tuesday.
“Virginians watched other states comply with these demands without voter input, and we refused to let it go. We responded the right way, at the polls,” Spanberger said.
Democrats have historically opposed partisan gerrymandering, but took an aggressive approach to the issue after President Trump and Republicans launched their own redistricting efforts, fearing losing control of the House in the next Congress.
Last summer, Trump began pushing Texas Republicans to begin redistricting in mid-decade. States typically redraw their congressional district lines after the census every 10 years.
Texas becomes the first state to redistrict in 2026
The Republican-led Texas Legislature heeded the president’s warning and adopted a map that would give Republicans up to five seats. Republican legislatures in other states, including Ohio, North Carolina and Missouri, followed suit. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called a special session of the Republican-led state Legislature later this month to redraw congressional districts.
In response, Democrats in some states asked voters to change the maps under their control. Californians voted in November for a voting plan aimed at giving Democrats five more seats this fall.
In a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump called Virginia’s vote a “rigged election” and claimed the language in the referendum was confusing. “As we all know, I’m a very good person. Even I had no idea what the hell they were saying in the referendum, and neither do they!” Trump posted.
Supporters of the Virginia effort have framed it as a necessary evil to counter the Trump administration’s anti-democratic impulses, but it puts the effort in an awkward position for Democrats, who have engaged in overtly anti-partisan gerrymandering in recent years.
Democrats opposed gerrymandering.
Democrats have repeatedly introduced bills to curb partisan gerrymandering by requiring independent commissions to redraw congressional districts. The Democratic Party has made the For the People Act, which includes anti-gerrymandering provisions, a top legislative priority in 2021.
Jeffries on Wednesday sought to differentiate between how Democrats and Republicans approach redistricting issues.
Democratic leaders said their party has made the decision to respond to Republican redistricting “in a way that is consistent with our values.”
“Our response has always been strong and temporary, and approved by voters, in direct response to the actions of MAGA extremists,” Jeffries said. “That’s the big difference between how we approach this effort and Republicans who are afraid to go to the statehouse in the middle of the night and hand over a map and then present that map to the people of the state.”
