Most of the congressional districts that touch Hampton Roads would remain largely unchanged under Virginia Democrats’ proposed mid-decade redistricting plan, which voters will weigh in on this week.
But the plan would drastically change the demographics and geography of a district where Republicans have held power for decades.
The 1st District is the Hampton Roads district that stands to change the most under the Democrats’ proposal. Republican Rep. Rob Wittman has held office there since 2007. Before him, Republican Jo Ann Davis held the seat from 2001 to 2007.
Under the Democrats’ plan, most of the existing 1st District would become a newly configured 8th District that would capture more localities beyond the Northern Neck, reaching to the state’s northern border with Washington, D.C.
Wittman did not respond to WHRO’s request for comment on the map.
Right now, Republicans hold five of Virginia’s congressional districts and Democrats hold six. Two - Hampton Roads’ 2nd District and central Virginia’s 7th District - are considered competitive swing districts that have been known to switch party representation.
Democrats want a map designed to make it easier for fellow Democrats to get elected in 10 of Virginia’s congressional districts. The 11th district in Southwest Virginia would remain politically friendly to Republicans.
Virginia Democratic Party leaders aren’t shy about their motivation for redrawing the maps. Party leaders, including Speaker of the House Don Scott, made clear during last year’s elections Democrats would pursue a redistricting amendment if the party secured a majority in the General Assembly to counter redistricting efforts President Donald Trump has pushed in places like Texas, Missouri and North Carolina.
The amendment is giving Virginia leaders the same flexibility other states have taken advantage of, Democrats have said.
“If these other states don’t follow Trump’s direction, we won’t need the … amendment,” Sen. Lamont Bagby (D-Richmond) told WHRO before Election Day in 2025.
The current 8th Congressional District is firmly in Northern Virginia and encompasses Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax and Falls Church.
Democratic Rep. Don Beyer represents that district now and said in a statement that he plans to run in the redrawn 8th.
"Last year, I announced that I would seek reelection to Congress to protect our community against attacks from the corrupt Trump administration and fight for fairness, justice, and affordability across the Commonwealth and the country. I remain unwavering in that fight, and will seek reelection in Virginia's 8th Congressional District,” Beyer wrote in a statement.
"The 8th District in the proposed redistricting map, if adopted, would make significant changes to this district and to my constituency. Many of its voters will be people I know well and have long represented, while others live in communities I served as Lieutenant Governor. I will work hard to earn the trust of Virginians from Arlington to Yorktown … ."
The proposed 1st District would move further inland, encompassing Spotsylvania, Stafford, Hanover, and King William counties.
The goal of the proposed changes was to shift district lines to encompass more voters who would likely support Democratic candidates in each, which means considering racial makeup and voting patterns when making new districts.
The most significant racial demographic changes among the four proposed congressional districts in Hampton Roads are in the 1st District. In total, the new maps increase the percentage of minority voters in the district by almost 15 percentage points.
Racial minorities are often “packed” into voting districts to satisfy requirements of the federal Voting Rights Act. A side effect of that means many majority-minority voting districts in the United States appear to favor Democratic candidates.
In the competitive 2nd District, which includes Virginia Beach and the Eastern Shore, the percentage of minority voters only increases by 1 percentage point under the proposed maps.
The 3rd District — already a Democratic stronghold including Norfolk, Portsmouth, Newport News and Hampton — increases minority voter representation by 5 percentage points. The 4th District stretches from Richmond to the North Carolina border and would see minority representation increase by 7 percentage points.
In the new 8th District, which would include the Middle Peninsula and much of the Northern Neck, minority voters would comprise 42% of voters. Nineteen percent of those minority voters are estimated to be Black and 14% are estimated to be Hispanic or Latino.
A brief history of redistricting in Virginia
Since campaigning for the redistricting amendment started, confusing advertisements have popped up across the state using partial statements from powerful politicians.
In direct text messages some Virginia voters received in mid-March, opponents of the amendment claimed Gov. Abigail Spanberger encouraged voters to pick no when voting.
The same month in Page County, a billboard paid for by the local Democratic Party featuring President Donald Trump appeared, saying he supports the referendum.
Spanberger initially took a hands-off approach to redistricting. In early March, she became more outspoken.
“I supported the formation of Virginia’s bipartisan redistricting commission in 2020, and that support has not changed,” she said in a press release. “What has changed is what we’re seeing in states across the country — and a President who says he is ‘entitled’ to more Republican seats before this year’s midterm elections.”
Later, Spanberger cast a yes vote for the referendum.
Trump has been supportive of some states pursuing off-cycle redistricting, though his support only extends to Republican-led states like Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Florida.
Other politicians have also been pulled into misleading redistricting ads, notably former Democratic President Barack Obama.
Obama lent his time to mailers, television and digital ads through the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC) to encourage voters in Virginia to vote yes on the referendum.
He was also involved in the state’s push to adopt an independent redistricting commission in 2020, encouraging the state to adopt that process to tamp down gerrymandering.
Those past comments against gerrymandering were recycled in new political ads, claiming Obama doesn’t support Virginia’s referendum because it, too, is gerrymandering.
A political action committee against the referendum, formed by Hampton’s former Republican Del. A.C. Cordoza, also used Obama and Civil Rights-era imagery in ads to try to sway minority voters.
The NDRC, started by Obama’s former U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder, clarified the former president’s current stance in a statement shortly after.
Under Virginia elections law, using an elected official’s statements out of context isn’t illegal. Generally, it is difficult to prove defamation from political advertisements, and misinformation related to the process of voting falls under voter suppression, not libel or defamation.
