The proposed map for new congressional districts is subject to a voter referendum on April 21, assuming the Virginia Supreme Court allows it to go forward.
However, in anticipation that voters agree, a proposed revision to the current state budget (known in legislative circles as the “caboose budget” to distinguish from the two-year budget for the next biennium) anticipates approval by creating new deadlines for picking party nominees.
The most significant of those: Party primaries would move from June to Aug. 4. Early voting for the primary would begin June 19.
The change is necessary to accommodate other state laws on early voting that would be squeezed if voters approve the April 21 referendum for a constitutional amendment to set aside the state’s previous maps and implement new ones for the rest of the decade.
That provision in the caboose budget would apply to all party primaries this year, not just congressional primaries. That would be of particular interest in Lynchburg and Roanoke, where some city council seats will be on the general election ballot in November and there may need to be party primaries to pick those nominees.
Candidates who wish to run in those primaries must file by April 2. The budget language says that congressional candidates should collect signatures “from the congressional districts
as the districts were constituted as of January 1, 2026.” In many cases that means candidates might be collecting signatures from voters who won’t be in their new districts, if the referendum is approved on April 21.
The caboose bill, which contains this language, won’t be voted on until later in the General Assembly session. You can find the provisions here, starting on page 36.