Republicans sue to stop Virginia redistricting referendum

Republican organizations filed a lawsuit Wednesday objecting to Virginia Democrats’ 2026 redistricting ballot referendum for using misleading language and violating state law and the state constitution.

The emergency motion sought a temporary restraining order to stop the process before early voting starts on March 6 for the referendum.

“Virginia Democrats are trying to ram through an illegal redistricting scheme that a court has already called a blatant abuse of power,” said Joe Gruters, chairman of the Republican National Committee. “Despite nearly half of Virginians supporting President Trump, [Gov.] 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.”

The RNC was joined in the lawsuit by the National Republican Congressional Committee and two Republican lawmakers from Virginia, Reps. Morgan Griffith and Ben Cline.

The Democrats’ effort in Virginia is part of a nationwide redistricting battle. President Trump urged redistricting in GOP-run states to get more Republican-leaning districts and help the party hold onto its razor-thin House majority. Texas was the first to redraw its maps. Then, Democratic states, led by California, responded in kind.

NRCC Chairman Richard Hudson said, “Virginia Democrats are ignoring their own Constitution and trying to rig the system in their favor.”

He called the redistricting referendum a “reckless power grab” to “lock in one-party control before Virginians have a fair say.”

The proposed constitutional amendment on the sample ballot for the April 21 public referendum asks voters to answer yes or no to the following question:

“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 Republican Party of Virginia said the ballot question, as written, was deceiving to voters.

“The use of the word ’fairness’ is deeply deceptive. It’s a lie. And we think that the ballot referendum is the definition of unfair, because it takes what voters had initially wanted, which was fair maps,” a state GOP spokesman told The Washington Times.

Virginia’s Supreme Court last week gave the go-ahead to the mid-decade redistricting referendum despite an ongoing legal challenge. The court will decide later if the map is legal.

Virginia Democrats currently control six of the state’s 11 U.S. House seats. They want to redraw the map to capture as many as 10 seats in the midterm elections, boosting the party’s chances of winning majority control of the House.