For an opposing point of view, see “A ‘yes’ vote is a vote for democratic accountability” by state Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg. For more information on redistricting, including the map, see our Voter Guide. Got questions about redistricting? Let us know.
There’s a group of powerful folks in Richmond who have decided that it’s better for politicians to pick their own voters than for those voters to decide who’s going to represent them in Congress.
It’s wrong, it’s backwards, and I’ve created a group called Stop the Gerrymander to fight it.
Here’s what we’re facing:
On April 21, voters will be asked to approve a constitutional amendment that would disenfranchise millions of voters by removing any chance that they’ll have a say in who represents them in Washington, D.C. If it passes, these Virginians will have their voices silenced, as power brokers make their own determinations about who will hold these offices, regardless of who or what the voters want.
Early voting has already started.
As it stands today, Virginia has one of the most balanced congressional delegations in the country. In the 2024 elections, Democrats received 51.4 percent of the statewide congressional vote while Republicans received about 47.6 percent. The current delegation reflects that closely, with a 6-to-5 Democratic majority.
But Richmond politicians decided to try to ram through a new map that benefits one party over the other so badly that it’s widely considered the most extreme attempt at gerrymandering anywhere in the country. If approved, the new map takes Virginia from a 6-to-5 party split to a delegation that’s 10-to-1 in favor of Democrats.
This is absolutely contrary to what voters have already loudly declared.
In 2020, just six years ago, the people approved a constitutional amendment creating a bipartisan redistricting process to prevent partisan map-drawing. Sixty-six percent — a supermajority — of Virginians supported that reform because they believed politicians shouldn’t be allowed to manipulate district lines for political gain.
Today, that reform is under direct assault and it’s why I created Stop the Gerrymander, which is a 501(c)(4) advocacy group focused on educating voters and mobilizing grassroots opposition to the proposed scheme. We will be holding public meetings, recruiting volunteers, knocking on doors and making phone calls. It’s necessary because people need to know what these politicians are trying to do and should have the chance to join the battle to stop them.
You may have heard that one of these newly drawn districts resembles a lobster, which is true, but what’s probably most offensive is the way that Fairfax County, vote rich and dominated by Democrats, is used as a weapon against the rest of the commonwealth. Fairfax is cut into five pieces and attached to districts that reach into rural Virginia, thereby guaranteeing that those rural folks will almost always be represented by someone from the D.C. suburbs.
There would be no connection — geographic, economic or cultural — that would bind these groups of people together, even though they’d be thrown into the same congressional districts to build clout for one political party. So, in addition to a lobster, also think of an octopus, because Fairfax County would have its tentacles running everywhere.
The gerrymander is indefensible, which is obviously why the people who created it and support it are forced to lie about it constantly.
The ballot question itself is dishonest, in that it asks voters to “restore fairness” to elections, which is the opposite of what the plan will do. The supporters frequently tell this same lie about fairness in their advertising, which is so blatantly deceitful that even people who don’t know anything about the issue can tell that they’re not telling the truth.
Another lie they’re trying to hide behind is that this is all just “temporary,” as though the people who would openly steal congressional seats would voluntarily give them back after a term or two. It should be apparent that if they had noble intentions, they wouldn’t be doing this in the first place.
The architects of the scheme will tell you they’re doing this because of what’s happening in other states, but it just proves that the Richmond kingpins are happy to abuse their own fellow Virginians to spite political opponents elsewhere.
We have allies in this fight and we are working together, rowing in the same direction toward the same goal. A group called Virginians for Fair Maps is co-chaired by my friends Jason Miyares, our fine former attorney general of Virginia, and Eric Cantor, former 7th District congressman and U.S. House majority leader. They are engaged in this fight as well, and together we form a united front to oppose the gerrymander.
If you care about fairness and the rights of law-abiding citizens to select their own federal representatives, then we invite you to join our side.
Go to www.StoptheGerrymander.com to volunteer and get involved.
And by all means, vote NO on or before April 21.
Rep. Ben Cline, a Republican, represents Virginia’s 6thDistrict in the U.S. House of Representatives and is the chairman of Stop the Gerrymander.