For an opposing point of view, see “Stop the gerrymander” by Rep. Ben Cline. For more information on redistricting, including the map, see our Voter Guide. Got questions about redistricting? Let us know.
I am a Good Government Democrat. In 2020, I was the main sponsor of the constitutional amendment to establish the Virginia Redistricting Commission that an overwhelming majority of Virginians voted for. In the House of Delegates, eight other Democrats and I joined with the Republicans to send the amendment to the voters. Reforming our redistricting process was a contentious issue within the Democratic Party that brought a barrage of criticism from my fellow Democrats. I don’t regret my stance or my vote for a second. The amendment did what it was designed to do; we have fair maps without the gerrymandering we see in other states. If Congress and other states followed our example, our democracy would be much healthier.
Despite my dedication to redistricting reform, I feel no anxiety voting “yes” for the redistricting amendment that will be on the ballot this month, an amendment that allows the General Assembly to approve Democratic-leaning congressional maps for the next three election cycles. Why don’t I feel any anxiety? Because it’s a temporary solution for a (hopefully) temporary constitutional crisis. Over the last two years, the MAGA movement has been a once-in-a-lifetime wrecking ball. They are trying to bring down the American values and institutions that make our country great — a kind of grand constitutional version of the physical wrecking balls we all watched destroy one wing of the White House earlier this year. MAGA’s demand that state governments redraw their districts, mid-decade, to empower the president’s party and protect him from a midterm loss, is just one example of their wrecking ball behavior.
The “no” side is hiding behind a series of cliches that short-circuit serious conversation, cliches like “two wrongs don’t make a right” or “you don’t fight fire with fire but with water.” These cliches are simple expressions of values that we teach our children and in the heat of the moment they have emotional power. But these simplistic arguments avoid historical context, ignore the president’s political and constitutional norm busting and, most gravely, give the people who are actively trying to avoid democratic accountability a free pass.
Ask yourself the following questions:
1. Are you okay with the president unilaterally raising your cost of living through tariffs?
2. Are you okay with gas prices skyrocketing because the president drags us into war without congressional approval?
3. Are you okay with the president’s congressional allies enacting laws that make health care unaffordable for the average Virginian?
4. Are you okay with the president and his billionaire cabinet imposing massive tax cuts for the rich, all while they are lining their own pockets as the country’s debt balloons and you pay more in all aspects of your life?
Most people are outraged at these actions and others. And a majority of Virginians, and Americans, would like the chance to change who runs our government. But the Trump administration is using every trick in the book to prevent us from using the constitutional tool of a fair midterm election to check their abuses and outrages.
Since modern redistricting began in 1962, only two states have redistricted mid decade for political reasons. Many states ban it. But since Donald Trump declared, “we are entitled to five more seats,” in Texas, four states have mid-decade redistricted in one year, including three Republican-led states who did so specifically to fulfill his entitled demand for more safe seats. Sit with that. Only two states in 62 years, and then three in just two months after the president gave Republican-led states their marching orders.
This is not politics as usual, and we should not pretend as if it is. We have a president whose policies, leadership and rhetoric are eroding our constitutional system and democratic norms more each day. His effort to undermine our elections goes beyond manipulating redistricting — he has proposed laws that ban vote-by-mail, verbally assaulted election workers and frequently lied about the integrity of elections as a whole.
Why should we let this corrupt, autocratic president dictate the terms of our democracy? We, the people, must push back with the tools and power that are available to us, including, if necessary, mid-decade redistricting?
When this administration is over, I’ll be glad we still have redistricting reform in Virginia and I’ll look forward to joining with Virginia Republicans to advocate for national redistricting reform (if this makes you snicker maybe that gives away their game). Until then, I’m voting to fight back. I’m voting to save democratic accountability. I’m voting YES.
Schuyler VanValkenburg is a state senator from Henrico County. He is a Democrat.