House Democrats reacted with alarm Friday after the Virginia Supreme Court struck down a redistricting referendum that Democrats had hoped would dramatically reshape the state’s congressional map ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, dealing what even some Democrats described as a major setback to their effort to retake the House.
The ruling invalidated the April referendum and preserved Virginia’s current 6-5 Democrat-to-Republican congressional split, preventing Democrats from implementing a redistricting plan that could have expanded their advantage to 10-1 in a state where President Donald Trump won 46 percent of the vote in 2024.
In a 4-3 ruling, the Virginia Supreme Court found that the constitutional amendment process violated Article XII, Section 1 of the Virginia Constitution because Democrats failed to follow requirements mandating two legislative approvals separated by an intervening House of Delegates election. The court said the violation “incurably taints the resulting referendum vote and nullifies its legal efficacy,” noting that more than 1.3 million Virginians had already voted in the November 2025 election before lawmakers approved the amendment proposal on October 31, 2025.
President Donald Trump celebrated the decision on Truth Social, calling it a “Huge win for the Republican Party, and America, in Virginia,” while former Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) said, “Justice has been served” and accused Democrats of knowingly violating the state constitution.
According to Axios, House Democrats fell into “a state of anguish” following the ruling, with lawmakers viewing Virginia and California as major opportunities to offset GOP-led redistricting efforts in Southern states. “Damn, California and Virginia were supposed to be our bigger ones,” one House Democrat told the outlet anonymously. Another Democrat said the party now has to “pitch a perfect game,” while a different lawmaker reacted with a one-word text message: “F*****ck!!”
An additional lawmaker told the outlet the decision was “deflating,” while a fifth Democrat warned that “Democrats cannot take a midterm victory for granted.”
Axios also reported that some Democrats are now openly questioning whether spending roughly $62.5 million to support the Virginia referendum effort was worth the investment. Nearly $40 million reportedly came from Hakeem Jeffries-aligned House Majority Forward.
“I feel like this is a colossal waste of resources that will further erode our politics,” one House Democrat told Axios. Another asked, “How many millions of dollars are we spending on this when the DNC is in debt and we have 40 frontline races to win?”
Some Democrats insisted they still expect to reclaim the House in November. Rep. Marc Veasey (D-TX) called the ruling “sickening” and said “Trump will still have to deal with a Democratic majority in the House come November.” Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) likewise said, “In spite of all the redistricting machinations, I think we will take back the House.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) condemned the ruling, stating that “over three million Virginia citizens cast their votes in a free and fair election, yet the State Supreme Court has chosen to invalidate their voice, disenfranchise them and violate their due process rights.” Jeffries accused “MAGA Republicans” of adopting “voter suppression as a strategy” and tied the ruling to what he described as a “Jim Crow-like attack on Black representation across the American South. We are exploring all options to overturn this shocking decision. No matter what it takes,” he said, adding: “Our fight is not over. We are just getting started.”
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Suzan DelBene (D-WA) described the ruling as “a setback that sends a terrible message to Americans,” while House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA) accused Republicans of attempting to “steal the midterm elections by robbing the American people of their vote” and said Democrats were “using every tool at our disposal to reverse this decision.”
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) called the decision a “total violation of the will of the people” and warned it would cause Americans to “lose faith” in the courts. Rep. Shontel Brown (D-OH) accused Republicans of attempting “racial gerrymanders across the South” and vowed Democrats would “use every tool we have to fight back.”
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who lost the Democrat Senate nomination in Texas, said Republicans had “cheated themselves into power” and would “violate any laws, constitutions, or basic rules of decency & humanity” to stay in control, while also attacking GOP-backed redistricting efforts as “racist maps” and claiming “The confederate states are for sure showing that they were never ridded of their racism.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) also weighed in:
“No vote in Tennessee (+1 GOP)
No vote in Florida (+4 GOP)
No vote in Missouri (+1 GOP)
No vote in North Carolina (+2 GOP)
No vote in Texas (+5 GOP)
Virginia’s voter-approved maps thrown out.
MAGA has rigged the system.”
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger said more than three million Virginians “made their voices heard” in the referendum and responded critically to the ruling.
“I am disappointed by the Supreme Court of Virginia’s ruling, but my focus as Governor will be on ensuring that all voters have the information necessary to make their voices heard this November in the midterm elections because in those elections we — the voters — will have the final say,” Spanberger said.
Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones — who faced backlash during his 2025 attorney general campaign after reports surfaced that he had sent 2022 text messages about hypothetically shooting former Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert and allegedly referenced Gilbert’s children dying in their mother’s arms — also criticized the decision, saying the court had “chosen to put politics over the rule of law” and arguing the ruling “silences the voices of the millions of Virginians who cast their ballots.”
Jones said his office had argued before the court that the amendment process was “timely, constitutionally-compliant, and legally sound.”
Virginia Democrat Dan Helmer, who has lost multiple congressional races and currently serves as campaign chair for Virginia House Democrats, called the ruling “shocking and disappointing,” arguing that “unelected partisan judges” should not decide elections. Helmer added that he had “fought for this country” both overseas and in the legislature and said, “One court ruling won’t change that.”
The Democrat Party’s official X account declared that the ruling “silences the voices of Virginians who approved an updated congressional map that levels the playing field ahead of the midterms.”
Former CNN host Jim Acosta reacted to the Virginia Supreme Court ruling in an X post in which he limited who could reply, writing, “Trump gets to redraw maps in his states but the Democrats cannot do the same? What is happening to our democracy?” while sharing an Associated Press headline about the decision.
Read the full article here
