This story was reported and written by VPM News.
Votes on four constitutional amendments on abortion, voting rights, marriage equality and mid-decade redistricting were the opening act of what is shaping up to be a high-stakes, action-packed and possibly precarious 2026 legislative session for the Virginia General Assembly.
The passage of the amendments through the House Privileges and Elections Committee Wednesday afternoon were the initial step in this year's constitutional amendment process. In order for voters to consider an amendment, both chambers of the General Assembly need to pass the text of an amendment twice: once before a House of Delegates election, and again after.
The full House is scheduled to take up the amendments on Wednesday afternoon, and the state Senate is on track to complete its actions on the amendments by Friday.
Virginia Democrats, including Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger, won big in last fall's election by campaigning on affordability and lowering costs. But which policy choices will result from that victory loom large. Reduced federal funding, tax cuts and high estimates for the state's health and education obligations all constrain funding for state initiatives that normally come with such a mandate.
Democrats have political tightropes to walk, too. The party holds a wide 64–36 majority in the House of Delegates, but a much narrower 21–19 majority in the state Senate. There is also the risk of overstepping in a way that could politically backfire.
Shortly after the win in November, Virginia House Speaker Don Scott (D–Portsmouth) said Democrats shouldn't "overreach," instead being "wise with the gift that the voters have given us."
On Monday, Del. Cia Price (D–Newport News), chair of the House's Privileges and Election committee, tied Democrats' affordability agenda to the sweeping Medicaid and SNAP cuts that congressional Republicans made through HR1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act championed by President Donald Trump.
"It definitely reminds me of the Audre Lorde quote that there is no such thing as a single-issue struggle, because we do not lead single-issue lives," said Price, speaking alongside her Senate counterpart, Aaron Rouse (D–Virginia Beach). "Before we can even get to our main focus of affordability, we must first address protecting our democracy and Virginians' freedoms."
Early in the 2025 regular session, legislators passed three amendments. One would replace the Virginia Constitution's ban on gay marriage with protections for marriage equality. Another would automatically restore voting rights to people who have completed felony sentences, instead of requiring the governor to individually restore them. The third would enshrine a right to reproductive freedom, including protections for abortion access, contraception and fertility treatments.
But the most controversial amendment, on redistricting, passed in a hastily convened set of meetings on the eve of the 2025 election.
"Two-thirds of Virginians, only four elections ago, decided that they wanted to end partisan gerrymandering. Do you know how difficult it is to get two-thirds of Virginians to agree to anything these days?" said Del. Israel O'Quinn (R–Washington) during Wednesday's committee votes, referencing the establishment of Virginia's bipartisan independent redistricting commission. "It concerns me we are attempting to go back to the bad old days of gerrymandering."
That amendment, which would give the General Assembly the ability to bypass the normal 10-year redistricting cycle in response to GOP-led gerrymandering efforts in other states, would need another set of legislative measures for Democrats to pull off a redraw of Virginia's congressional districts.
In addition to passing the amendment a second time, the statehouse would need to set a referendum for voters to decide whether to approve redistricting — which would also require a budget amendment, according to an attorney with the Department of Legislative Services, one of the General Assembly's nonpartisan legal and research services.
Lawmakers would then need to draw and pass new maps, which Spanberger would need to sign off on. Price said that Virginia voters would see a new map proposal this month. She and Rouse said they had not seen maps that Politico reported the National Democratic Redistricting Committee had presented to Virginia lawmakers.
"We really are going to take this step by step, so we are not at the process of drawing that map yet, but that map will be available by Jan. 30," Price said Monday.
This process would also require an adjustment to Virginia's electoral calendar to accommodate the changing district boundaries. Candidates for the US House of Representatives must file by April 2 to run in party primaries currently scheduled for June 2026, according to the state's election department.
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