A circuit court in Tazewell County ruled on Tuesday to halt the mid-decennial redistricting effort by Democratic lawmakers in Virginia.
General Assembly Republicans filed a complaint — and a request for an emergency injunction while they waited for a hearing — in Tazewell County Circuit Court in October. Their request sought a judgment on the constitutionality of Democratic legislators’ effort to redraw Virginia’s congressional maps outside of the normal 10-year period.
Some Democratic lawmakers have posted on social media their intention to draw maps that would favor a congressional delegation of 10 Democrats and one Republican. If that were to come to fruition, Reps. Rob Wittman of Westmoreland County, who represents the 1st District; Jen Kiggans of Virginia Beach, who represents the 2nd District; John McGuire of Goochland County, who represents the 5th District; and Ben Cline of Botetourt County, who represents the 6th District, could be in danger of losing their seats. Both the 5th and 6th congressional districts are considered Republican strongholds as the maps are currently drawn.
Though Chief Judge Jack Hurley Jr. repeatedly declined the plaintiff’s request for an injunction to halt the redistricting effort until after the General Assembly concluded their action on the amendment, the plaintiffs — three Republican lawmakers — won the day Tuesday.
Democratic lawmakers in the General Assembly leadership issued a joint statement Tuesday afternoon that said they will not be dissuaded from putting the issue before the voters in a referendum. They vowed to appeal the ruling immediately.
“Republicans who can’t win at the ballot box are abusing the legal process in an attempt to sow confusion and block Virginians from voting,” the House of Delegates and state Senate leaders said in their statement. “This was court shopping, plain and simple.”
Republican Sens. Bill Stanley of Franklin County and Ryan McDougle of Hanover County, and House of Delegates Minority Leader Terry Kilgore of Scott County were plaintiffs in the complaint.
“We won on every ground,” Stanley said.
The questions at the center of the ruling
Central to the complaint was a request for the judge to rule on the constitutionality of the Democratic lawmakers’ redistricting effort.
A constitutional amendment must pass the General Assembly twice, with an intervening election between those two votes, before it goes to the voters in a referendum. The plaintiffs argued that the 2025 election had already begun when the constitutional amendment was passed the first time by the General Assembly. The legislative body passed the amendment on Oct. 31 in a special session and early voting for the 2025 elections had begun more than a month prior on Sept. 19.
Stanley also pointed out a requirement in Virginia code that states constitutional amendments must be posted by every courthouse, either on its website or front steps, in Virginia three months before the proposed vote on the resolution. The proposed date for the voter referendum on the redistricting amendment is April 21.
“They didn’t follow the procedures basically from the beginning,” said Stanley, who is a lawyer by trade. He called the Tazewell County court’s ruling a “complete victory for democracy and the rule of law in the commonwealth of Virginia.”
“The end result is right for Virginia and Virginians so that we don’t have this haphazard political gerrymandering attempt forced down the voters’ throats without having a full debate in our communities as to whether such constitutional provision should be passed or not,” Stanley said.
Democratic lawmakers in the state Senate on Tuesday passed a bill, to enable the referendum, that included a provision that would change the venue for legal challenges to the effort from Tazewell County to the city of Richmond. The bill also repealed the code section that requires constitutional amendments be noticed to communities through every courthouse website or steps for three months prior to a vote.
Democratic lawmakers have 21 days after the Tazewell Circuit Court ruling to have the complaint reheard. The House of Delegates will need to pass the Senate bill and Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger will need to sign the bill into law within that time frame to have the case reheard in a Richmond court.
“They knew they were going to lose, so they’re trying to change the law again so that they can get a more friendly home-cooked backyard court to hear the reconsideration,” Stanley said. “I think any judge if they look at this will agree with [Chief Judge Jack Hurley Jr.’s] ruling no matter what county they’re sitting in.”
Virginians for Fair Elections Campaign Manager Keren Charles Dongo echoed General Assembly Democrats’ response to the ruling in a statement Tuesday. Virginians For Fair Elections is an organization in favor of the redistricting effort.
“This is a clear attempt to confuse voters and block them from having a say. Republicans court-shopped for a ruling because litigation and misinformation are the only tools they have left,” Dongo said. “We’re prepared for what comes next, and Virginians deserve both the right to vote and the chance to level the playing field.”
McDougle, Kilgore and Eric Cantor, honorary co-chair of Virginians for Fair Maps — an anti-redistricting group — issued a statement that lauded the Tazewell court ruling.
“If they continue to move forward with the unconstitutional amendment process, the Democrats would be defying the order of the Court,” the statement read. “This case was never about partisanship. It was about process, fairness, and the simple principle that you cannot change the Constitution by ignoring the Constitution. The court made clear that elections matter, notice matters, and the rules apply to everyone — even those in power.”
The court’s ruling became known just hours after both the House and Senate voted along party lines to set the date for a redistricting referendum on April 21. The measure also set aside about $5 million to pay for the referendum, according to the bill text. The Senate bill includes provisions to move legal challenges to the effort from the Tazewell Circuit Court to the city of Richmond.