OPINION:
When asked on the campaign trail for Virginia’s governorship in August, Democrat Abigail Spanberger told Old Dominion voters she had no plans to gerrymander the state.
“Short answer is no,” Ms. Spanberger said about the prospects of redistricting, local outlet 7News reported. “Virginia, by constitutional amendment, has a new redistricting effort that was put in place and first utilized in the 2021 redistricting,” she said.
“I’ve been watching with interest what other states are doing, but I have no plans to redistrict Virginia.”
Now, after winning the election, Ms. Spanberger is doing just that. She signed off on a plan to redraw the state’s congressional map to favor Democratic candidates in 10 of the commonwealth’s 11 districts. It’s a naked partisan power grab, as the state’s current congressional delegation has six Democrats and five Republicans.
The new map divides Democratic stronghold Fairfax County into five distinct congressional districts, combining suburban areas with more rural parts of the state, thereby disenfranchising and diluting rural residents’ votes.
It’s all being done for national politics, not the betterment of commonwealth voters.
Democrats say the redistricting is needed to combat Texas’ recent move to alter its congressional map in favor of Republicans. Still, the 10-1 advantage is a hideous overreach that abdicates the voices of many Virginians, who voted for a bipartisan map just five years ago.
The Virginia Redistricting Commission was approved by the commonwealth in 2021 to prevent maps from being drawn in response to political retaliation or national pressure. It was an effort to remove lawmakers’ direct authority to draw maps. Virginia’s current 6-5 split represents the outcome of that process.
Many have argued that the gerrymandered map Virginia Democrats are proposing is illegal, as it overrides the bipartisan commission. Its legality is being debated in the courts, but the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that the April 21 ballot measure could move forward regardless.
Even deep-blue Maryland killed efforts to redraw its congressional map ahead of the November elections. Senate President Bill Ferguson, a Democrat, viewed the midcycle move as legally risky and likely to fail.
Virginia Democrats have no such modicum.
Going into the special election, Democrats have a fundraising advantage of 10 times that of the Republican side. They also have rigged the language on the ballot measure to be intentionally deceiving, inviting low-information voters to “restore fairness in the upcoming elections” with their egregiously partisan map.
Virginians should be disgusted by the brazen partisan politics disguised as “fairness” emanating from Richmond, and they should vote no on the referendum. Strong early Republican voting indicates commonwealth voters will not, again, be hoodwinked by Democrats.
Ms. Spanberger was elected as a “moderate” who would focus on affordability and avoid dividing voters through gerrymandering Virginia’s map.
So far, she has governed as a rabid liberal, and her cratering poll numbers reflect that commonwealth voters are recognizing this bait-and-switch.
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