All eyes on Virginia as redistricting battle enters the final stretch

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - "Don't guess, vote yes," Virginia Beach NAACP member and voter Georgia Allen chanted in a crowd of voters Saturday near Virginia Beach's Mount Trashmore.

Allen was one of dozens who attended a series of get-out-the-vote style rallies over the weekend for the last stretch of early voting on a redistricting referendum that could dramatically change Virginia's congressional representation and potentially give Democrats more power nationally.

Roughly 200 miles away, at a rally in Lynchburg that drew Republican heavyweights, the message Saturday was "don't gerrymander Virginia" as voters echoed a resounding "vote no."

If approved in an April 21 special election, a new congressional map would go into effect ahead of this year's midterm elections. Democrats hold six congressional seats and Republicans have five. Under the proposed maps, 10 congressional districts would favor Democrats and one would favor Republicans.

Democrats frame the issue as a national fight for "fair elections" and to "level the playing field" in response to recent redistricting in other states that's favorable to Republicans. They see it as a tangible way to "fight back" against a national GOP stronghold.

Republicans have deemed the proposed maps a "power grab" by Richmond politicians that dilutes representations of minorities and rural communities. Their messaging frames the redistricting push as unconstitutional and illegal gerrymandering in a state that previously supported bipartisan redistricting efforts.

The election has national implications, and both parties have called on reinforcements to bolster their campaigning in the homestretch. A series of coordinated campaign events across Virginia - dubbed Super Saturday - featured former Virginia governors, attorneys generals, and U.S. House members and leaders. Early voting spans through Saturday, and turnout has been steady.

The major players

Several political groups formed to influence the election and are raking in large-scale donations from across the commonwealth and beyond.

The Virginians for Fair Elections PAC has been the primary face of the pro-redistricting movement, spearheaded by individuals associated with Virginia House Speaker Don Scott, including attorney Jeffrey Breit, who works with Scott at Breit Biniazan firm and serves as his chief of staff.

The primary anti-redistricting campaigning has come from Virginians for Fair Maps, a PAC led by former Attorney General Jason Miyares.

Both Scott and Miyares have attended events and rallies across the state.

Democrats are leaning heavily on the redistricting effort serving as a national counter to President Donald Trump and his administration. Former President Barack Obama entered the campaign early to push out support for redistricting via mailers and TV ads. While Gov. Abigail Spanberger voted for the referendum, she hasn't been a face on the campaign trail.

At a recent town hall event, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine sought to explain the national implications.

"So people have said to me, ‘Oh, well, so North Carolina did something. Why should Virginia?' Well, if North Carolina did something, and the result is Virginians lose Medicaid benefits, Virginians lose SNAP benefits … Texas is going to make it worse," Kaine said. "And our people are getting punched. You can't just stand around and do nothing."

At the same virtual event, U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the referendum the "best possible chance" to ensure "free and fair elections," and to reverse the "policy damage" inflicted by the Trump administration.

"Elections matter and elections have consequences, and we're living through that right now," Jeffries said.

But much of the conversation at that town hall, hosted by Roland Martin Unfiltered at Virginia State University last week, focused on why Black voters should support the measure and on Trump's policies and budget cuts that have disproportionately harmed Black Americans.

"What we're witnessing is an absolute attack on Black America," Martin said in concluding the town hall. "So I need Black Virginians … to rise up and then show them. If y'all want to see what it looks like to piss Black people off, we will show you what it looks like by turning out in massive numbers and giving you that big fat L on the night of April 21."

Republicans also have made a push to persuade Black voters to reject redistricting, including mailers and controversial campaign ads exploiting Civil Rights era imagery to sway voters. The NAACP has condemned such rhetoric as a distortion of history intended to confuse voters, while Republicans point to a concern of fair representation.

"We're the most feared part of the electorate in the world right now, the Black vote in America, the Black vote in the Commonwealth of Virginia," Scott said at a town hall last week. "That is why they are lying in those flyers every day. They sending those flyers out, just lying. They lying on Abigail Spanberger. They lying on President Barack Obama."

Republicans are more broadly characterizing the redistricting effort as a form of gerrymandering - even using past comments from Obama and Spanberger speaking against gerrymandering in other circumstances to boost their anti-redistricting message across a series of ads.

The referendum has been plagued with legal challenges as Republicans maintain the process used to get the referendum on the ballot was unconstitutional and illegal. Former Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, set out on the campaign trail only recently against the referendum, hosting a fundraiser and attending a Super Saturday rally in Lynchburg. In a recent appearance on Sean Hannity's podcast, he called on the Virginia Supreme Court to intervene.

"With that said I'm terribly frustrated with our Supreme Court in Virginia who refused to take this up and opine on it in time," Youngkin said. "I just think they're being weak here. They need to stand up for the constitution.

U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans, who could be at risk of losing her District 2 seat under the proposed maps, has been a consistent presence in Hampton Roads against the issue. Local and state officials joined her Friday in Virginia Beach when she cast her "no" ballot.

"People here in the commonwealth deserve representation that reflects their values, that reflects their political ideologies and priorities," she said at a Friday early voting event in Virginia Beach. "Having 92% of our commonwealth represented by one party certainly does not do that."

She also joined conservative personality Scott Presler last month for an early voting rally in Virginia Beach.

"When we sit and explain these maps, what the old maps look like, what the new maps look like that they're proposing … we win on this issue," she told a few dozen voters who assembled to see Presler.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson joined campaign efforts during a fundraiser in Rockingham County over the weekend, emphasizing that Virginia has the power to "defend" the nation with this vote.

"Virginia is not a 10-1 state," Johnson told the crowd Saturday. "It's wrong. This is not a deep blue state."

Which message resonates

For some voters, the messages are landing. Following Kiggans' early voting rally Friday, Virginia Beach voter Frank Rogers, a Republican who voted against the referendum, said he doesn't think it's right for Democrats to take power "because of something Texas did."

Other Republican voters worry the measure won't be temporary, as Democrats have described it. As written, the referendum would allow for temporary redistricting before resuming Virginia's standard redistricting process - led by an independent commission - following the 2030 census.

Virginia Beach voter and Republican John Meravy said Friday "there's no such thing as temporary" and that Democrats already outnumber Republicans in Virginia.

Some voters take issue with the proposed map itself.

"It doesn't take a genius to look at the map and say it's not right," said Virginia Beach voter Bruce Smith, who voted in opposition.

But Gayle Kirby, who voted in support of the referendum, lamented that "normally we wouldn't have to do this."

"The other side is cheating so badly, we've got to change things," she said.

Jeff and Olga Taylor, both "yes" voters in Virginia Beach, said their decision came down to fair representation and balancing the loss of Democratic seats in other states.

Both sides have accused the other of misleading voters in the flood of mailers, billboards, yard signs and TV ads. Over the weekend, Miyares said Democrats are "having to spend so much money because they're trying to deceive voters."

Some voters said the ads are helpful for staying informed, but others say the rhetoric is overwhelming and misleading.

Virginia Beach voter Nehemiah Harrison said the Republican-led mailers are practicing "reactionary politics" and using fear tactics to boost turnout. John and Cindy Meravy said Democratic messaging has been more misleading as the ballot referendum isn't "clear cut as worded."

What is the ballot question?

When voters cast their ballots, the referendum question will read as follows:

"Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to allow the General Assembly to temporarily adopt new congressional districts to restore fairness in the upcoming elections, while ensuring Virginia's standard redistricting process resumes for all future redistricting after the 2030 census?"

A "yes" vote gives Democrats the green light to run with the proposed 10-1 map in the 2026 congressional midterm elections. A "no" vote would maintain the current 6-5 congressional makeup that slightly favors Democrats.

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(Staff writer Trevor Metcalfe contributed to this report.)

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This story was originally published April 14, 2026 at 7:32 PM.