Beth Macy, one of Virginia’s biggest fundraisers among a slate of Democratic challengers in the 2026 midterm elections, had strong words for members for General Assembly Democrats as their redistricting stalemate continues.
Punchbowl News reported on Tuesday that the House of Delegates and state Senate are advancing rival plans that would benefit some of their own members who wish to run for Congress. Democrats are nearly one week past their self-imposed Jan. 30 deadline to release the maps to the public.
“I got into this race because Rep. Ben Cline has utterly failed the working people of the 6th District. So it’s tough to sit by and read the redistricting tea leaves as political factions in Richmond and Washington draw maps in backrooms to favor career politicians, not working people,” Macy said in a statement to Cardinal News on Wednesday. “Release the maps already. Stop the bickering, back-scratching and politicking, and let me get to work for my future constituents. I will take on any opponent, anywhere, anytime.”
Macy worked as a reporter for The Roanoke Times from 1989 until 2014. She wrote five books, including four bestsellers, one of which, a nonfiction book titled “Dopesick,” examines the origin of the opioid epidemic in the U.S. and its effect on small towns in the Appalachian region.
Macy, a Democrat, has been called the antithesis to Republican Vice President JD Vance by Politico — both hail from Ohio and humble beginnings and both authored books that examined the plight of poverty in Appalachian America with very different conclusions.
Punchbowl, a Washington, D.C.-based online news outlet, had reported that the House map draws a new district in Northern Virginia and the northern Shenandoah Valley that would benefit Del. Dan Helmer of Fairfax County. That scenario could leave Macy out or put her in the same district as former Congressman Tom Perriello, whose geographical base includes Charlottesville and has twice as many Democratic voters as Macy’s base in the Roanoke Valley.
Punchbowl reported Tuesday that the state Senate version would draw maps specifically to create seats for Sen. Lamont Bagby of Richmond, the state Democratic Party chair, and Democratic Sen. Russett Perry of Loudoun County. To do that, the Senate would draw a district that puts Perriello and Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor into the same district. Taylor is currently running for the 1st Congressional District.
Democrats have called the redistricting effort necessary, after Republican President Donald Trump called on conservative-led states to redistrict their congressional maps in favor of GOP candidates ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Virginia Republicans have questioned the legality of the redistricting effort in the commonwealth and have filed lawsuits aimed at halting the process.
To redraw congressional maps outside of the normal ten-year cycle, Democrats proposed and passed a constitutional amendment that would suspend the bipartisan redistricting commission. The General Assembly would go back to the redistricting commission after the 2030 Census to again redraw the commonwealth’s congressional map. The constitutional amendment must go before the voters in a referendum before it is enacted. April 21 has been proposed as the date for the voter referendum.
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. Chief Judge Jack Hurley Jr. sided with the Republican lawmakers in a January ruling. That ruling has been appealed to the Virginia Supreme Court.
