Virginia voters narrowly approved a radical Democrat-backed constitutional amendment Tuesday that grants the Democrat-controlled General Assembly temporary power to redraw congressional district lines.
It’s a move that will essentially allow Democrats to seal Republican congressional seats. And it’s a ploy that pro-life advocates condemned as a partisan power grab aimed at eliminating four pro-life Republican seats.
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The referendum passed by a slim 50% to 49% margin, according to early returns with more than 84% of precincts reporting.
The measure allows Democrat lawmakers to adopt new maps outside the normal redistricting cycle, enabling a plan that would shift Virginia’s current 6-5 Democratic advantage in the U.S. House delegation to a 10-1 split favoring Democrats.
The approved map would consolidate Republican voters into one heavily GOP district while spreading Democratic-leaning voters across the remaining districts. Pro-life leaders warn the change would replace four pro-life, pro-family Republican representatives with pro-abortion Democrats, severely weakening protections for unborn children in Congress.
President Donald Trump warned during a tele-rally with House Speaker Mike Johnson, “We’ll have one seat. At most, we’ll have one seat. And we can’t do that,” calling the measure a “shameful effort to disenfranchise” conservative voters.
He added, “If this referendum passes, Democrats will silence the voices of Virginia conservatives and push the same crazy radical left policies in Congress that Virginia Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger is now bringing to Virginia.”
Johnson urged voters to defeat what he called “the most gerrymandered map in the country” and “save our Republican majority in the House,” arguing that “extreme Democrats” aimed to “wipe out four Republican seats all in one fell swoop for one reason: they want to stop President Trump and our agenda in its tracks.”
Gov. Abigail Spanberger defended the referendum on social media, writing before polls closed, “Today’s redistricting referendum is about one thing: President Trump’s power grab. Last summer, he said he’s ‘entitled’ to more seats in Congress, and states across the country got to work to give him what he demanded. You can push back, Virginia. Vote YES.”
The takes effect for the 2026 elections but is set to return future redistricting after the 2030 census to the standard process.
Pro-life advocates, including the Virginia Society for Human Life, have highlighted the threat to unborn babies, noting that passage would leave Virginia with just one pro-life Republican and nine pro-abortion Democrats in its congressional delegation.
Olivia Gans Turner, president of the Virginia Society for Human Life, had urged voters: “Virginians must stop the redistricting amendment from stealing our pro-life seats in Congress! Vote NO!”
Court challenges to the process remain pending, but the measure advanced after state supreme court rulings allowed the referendum to proceed. Final certification of results is expected in the coming days.
