The decision is a major victory for Republicans, wiping away a measure approved by voters that would allow Democrats to gain as many as four House seats in the midterms.
May 8, 2026 Updated 10:47 a.m. ET
The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday struck down a measure allowing state Democrats to redraw congressional districts, dealing a significant blow to the party’s efforts to keep pace with Republicans in a nationwide redistricting battle.
The ruling wipes out four Democratic-leaning U.S. House seats in Virginia and means that Republicans will enter the midterms with a structural advantage from their moves to carve out newly red districts across the country.
In the Virginia court’s 4-to-3 decision, the majority wrote that Democratic legislators had put a constitutional amendment to allow for a new map before voters in “an unprecedented manner” that violated the state’s constitution, adding, “This violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void.”
In late April, Democrats were celebrating the result of a referendum in which voters approved an amendment to the State Constitution, enabling Democratic lawmakers to reshape the map to gain as many as four House seats. But Republicans challenged the legality of the measure in court, securing a victory that helps them build an advantage in what has become a coast-to-coast gerrymandering chess match.
Democrats had fought the G.O.P. to a rough draw after the Virginia referendum, but since then, they have faced setbacks. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the Voting Rights Act last week set the stage for an improvement in Republicans’ fortunes ahead of the midterms, and the Virginia court decision provided the G.O.P. with more welcome news.
Already, Republicans in Tennessee, Alabama and Louisiana have taken steps to draw new maps before the midterms, which would net Republicans a handful of additional safe seats before voters cast a ballot in November. South Carolina and Mississippi are also exploring new maps before November.
Still, Republicans face strong headwinds in their bid to retain control of the House, including worries about the economy, the unpopular war with Iran, high gas prices and President Trump’s sagging approval ratings.
The defeat at the court also reveals the limits of years of reforms pushed by Democrats in the current hyperpartisan era. While some Democratic-controlled states like Virginia installed independent commissions to oversee their map-drawing process in an effort to insulate it from politics, Republicans kept the power in state legislatures, allowing states like Texas, Florida, North Carolina and Missouri to enact partisan maps with few logistical hurdles.
In Virginia, voters approved the amendment in a statewide referendum by about three percentage points, according to the most recent tally, after the General Assembly had passed it twice. But Republicans challenged nearly every aspect of the process. Most of these lawsuits were filed before in a county court in the rural southwestern corner of the state, where a judge repeatedly ruled in the Republicans’ favor. These rulings were appealed to the State Supreme Court.
About $100 million was spent on the redistricting campaign.
In lawsuits, Republicans argued that the language in the amendment was misleading, that the new districts were not drawn compactly, that it was improper to vote on redistricting at a legislative session that had convened to discuss budget issues and that a state law required county clerks to post notices about the amendment months before it was actually voted on.
One of the most critical questions concerned the sequence of events in Virginia’s complex amendment process. Before voters weigh in on an amendment to the State Constitution, the General Assembly must approve it twice, with an election for the state House of Delegates taking place between the two votes. The first vote for this amendment was on Oct. 31, just days before the state election. With hundreds of thousands of Virginians having already voted, Republicans argued that the legislative action had come too late.
The court sided with that argument.
“Early Virginia voters unknowingly forfeited their constitutionally protected opportunity to vote for or against delegates who favor or disfavor amending the Constitution by not anticipating a legislative vote on a constitutional amendment four days before the last day of voting,” the court’s majority wrote in its ruling.
But the loss in Virginia is likely to only further stoke more redistricting battles. Already, Democrats in New York and Colorado have signaled a desire to try and redraw their maps before the 2028 elections, and Virginia Democrats are likely to be in a similar position, since the court mainly took issue with the process, not with the resulting map.
Campbell Robertson reports for The Times on Delaware, the District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.
Nick Corasaniti is a Times reporter covering national politics, with a focus on voting and elections.
Reid J. Epstein is a Times reporter covering campaigns and elections from Washington.
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