This story was reported and written by VPM News.
After a 21–16 Virginia Senate vote Friday, both chambers of the Legislature has now proposed a constitutional amendment that — if approved before next year's federal midterms — would allow the 2026 General Assembly to redraw congressional districts in response to a gerrymandering push in Republican-led states.
The draft amendment permits the General Assembly to redraw congressional maps between the typical redistricting cycle of after the census, rather than the Virginia Redistricting Commission. It is only in effect until 2030, and only comes into play after another state has redrawn its maps for political purposes.
The votes do not create new maps for the 2025 election, which concludes next week. The proposed measure also limits its mapmaking to federal congressional districts; the existing statehouse districts would remain untouched until after the 2030 Census.
Sen. Barbara Favola (D–Arlington) said constituents had contacted her in favor of the amendment, concerned since President Donald Trump pressured Texas and other GOP-led states to draw Republican-gerrymandered electoral maps.
"They're wondering why the president of the United States is asking so many states to redraw their districts to minimize the vote or voice of many communities," she said in a debate over changing the proposed amendment's text. "Our voters are asking to have that voice, and they're asking that we protect democracy, that we not allow gerrymandering to happen throughout the country, and we sit back."
Virginia's constitutional amendment process requires that the entire General Assembly propose an amendment. Then, "after the next general election of members of the House of Delegates," the General Assembly must propose and approve the same text again before it can be voted on in a statewide ballot measure.
Since a referendum can only happen 90 days after final passage of the amendment, it could happen as early as April 2026, which would then require maps to be redrawn before early voting opens for the 2026 general election. Depending on when that possible referendum takes place, midterm primary elections could be moved or filing deadlines could be changed.
Then, general elections would be conducted using the new maps in fall 2026.
Sen. Bill Stanley (R–Franklin County) said the amendment was only meant to bypass the redistricting commission to send more Democrats to Congress.
"They're proposing what amounts to an escape hatch," he said. "My friends on the other side want power to draw maps through this HJ6007 that entrench Democrat power in the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the halls of Congress. The call for mid-decade authority is coded language for 'We want more control.'"
Virginia Republicans also dispute that this special session's vote is in keeping with the constitution, arguing that the amendment should have been approved before Virginia's 45-day early voting period began on Sept. 19.
GOP members in Virginia have made it clear that they will continue to challenge the process in court, having already filed a lawsuit in Tazewell County this week.
The Senate's vote concludes a weeklong surprise session called for by the Democrats — who hold slim majorities in both the Senate and the House of Delegates — after North Carolina voted to give the GOP an advantage in one of its congressional districts.
Virginia House Speaker Don Scott (D–Portsmouth) confirmed for reporters after delegates passed the amendment on Wednesday that North Carolina's actions triggered the session.
"We had ideas on the table, but we were not prepared to move forward," he said. "But then, when North Carolina said 'we were drawing maps' — we have no choice."
Legislators were called back to Richmond on Thursday, Oct. 23, under an ongoing special session from 2024 (called by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin) that state lawmakers kept active in order to respond to actions from Washington.
But it wasn't until Monday, when the Legislature voted to add redistricting to the session's agenda, that new maps were officially acknowledged as the session's purpose.
On Monday, legislators were still finalizing the text of the amendment, balancing competing priorities between Democratic members in the General Assembly — and in consideration of the bipartisan redistricting commission process that two-thirds of voters approved only five years ago.
Sen. Mark Obenshain (R–Rockingham) pointed to the adoption of that redistricting amendment five years ago in debates Friday.
"I can't fathom why there would be any objection to enforcing, to adopting the will of the people of Virginia," he said, saying that Virginia voters gave the "important decision to the redistricting commission, as opposed to hyper-politicizing it, going back to what we had before."
As VPM News has previously reported, the 16-person panel established by that 2020 amendment could not agree on criteria to draw up its first set of maps. After years of bipartisan gridlock, its electoral failsafe kicked in: The Supreme Court of Virginia itself appointed two mapmakers, who submitted the electoral maps in use since 2023.
Four commission members, including three sitting state lawmakers, are the Tazewell County lawsuit's plaintiffs.
In debate Friday, Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg (D–Henrico) spoke to his support for the redistricting commission, which he carried legislation to create.
"If I thought any of those crucial reforms we fought for were in danger, that we were moving backward to a pre-amendment system permanently, I would be a 'no' vote," he said. "But that's not what this is, and that's not what we're doing today. We are taking a truly proportional response to an extreme situation."
Republicans said that the timing — during the last week before Election Day — was no mistake, and was meant to bring their party's nominee for governor, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, off the campaign trail.
Despite this, the week saw campaigning inside and outside the Virginia State Capitol walls. House Republicans campaigned against Democratic statewide nominees in remarks usually reserved for introductions.
Earle-Sears, who presides over the Senate as lieutenant governor, held a press conference on the Capitol steps to campaign against Democrat Abigail Spanberger, the former representative for Virginia's 7th Congressional District.
It's unclear how the redistricting session may affect Tuesday's elections.
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