The proposed amendment would give the General Assembly the authority to redraw one or more of Virginia’s congressional districts before 2031 in limited circumstances. In the event that another state redraws its own congressional districts before 2031, without being ordered by a court to do so, the General Assembly would then be able to redraw Virginia’s congressional districts. The General Assembly’s power to do so would continue until October 31, 2030, and the Virginia Redistricting Commission would reassume the responsibility of drawing the congressional districts in 2031.”
How will that change to the Virginia Constitution “restore fairness”? It won’t. In fact, it is the opposite of fairness, but if a voter doesn’t understand what the amendment is designed to accomplish, which Gov. Spanberger and her party have made sure is the case, that fact will not enter into his or her mind.
The Virginia House favors Democrats by a 6-5 margin over the GOP, which seems fair since the state went for Biden over Trump in the rigged 2020 election by 51% to 49% and Trump beat Harris in 2024 by 50% to 48%. The redrawn congressional districts planned to take place if the “yes” votes prevail tomorrow will move Democrats from a 6-5 edge over Republicans to a 10-1 advantage. That will not accurately represent the political divide in the state.
You know—fair.
In a video released by Spanberger (who campaigned as a moderate Democrat and immediately demonstrated that she is as rabid a progressive as any elected state governor—just as Bernie Sanders assured Democrats that Kamala Harris would be an ally of socialists once she was President, and not to be concerned with what she was promising during her campaign), the Virginia governor explained that the provision has nothing to do with fairness for Virginians—that is the state, the residents and the interests she is supposedly responsible for, but —you guessed it! — is intended to fight President Trump. She says,
“What has changed is what we’re seeing in states across the country. And a President who says he’s entitled to more Republican seats before this year’s midterms…. And Virginia has the opportunity to take action in response…. It’s directly in response to what other states have decided to do.“
State Rep. Don Beyer, a Democrat and a hard-left progressive, was even more direct. “We have to effectively make the case that even though this seems unfair in Virginia,” this totalitarian hack said. “It’s totally fair for America, for those of us who believe that taking back the House is the most significant thing we can do to stop Donald Trump.”
It is fair for America to effectively disenfranchise Virginia Republicans while getting the authority to do so by misleading voters in a special election.
I have been particularly disgusted by many of my Trump Deranged Facebook friends, lawyers among them, who in posts pimping for this hidden amendment make it quite clear that they know its intent, know it is misleading on the ballot, know it will disenfranchise conservatives (and those who have figured out what the sick 21st Century version of the Democratic Party is after), and feel it should be passed anyway. Their position is that they have to destroy democracy in order to save it.
Witnessing episodes like this, and there have been so many of late, I feel like Connie Corleone (Talia Shire) screaming, “Read the papers! That’s your husband! That’s your husband!” to her brother’s wife Kay while accusing Michael Corleone of killing her husband. “That’s your party! That’s your party!”
At a certain point I’ll have to assume that my friends approve of these tactics, which means they are complicit in the power grab, that they are not concerned with collateral damage, that democracy only “works” in their worldview when it results in policies they want, and that they have been completely corrupted.
Ethics Alarms 
I think we are witnessing the hidden undercurrent agenda of the political left’s soft coup coming into the light of day. The left’s lust for ultimate power is going to rip the shit out of the nation.
I am really disturbed by the number of people who claim that Gov. Spanberger campaigned as a moderate Democrat and somehow morphed into a left-wing extremist. What is a ‘moderate’ Democrat these days? When RFK Jr. is considered a right-wing extremists, where does that put those to the left of him? The fact that so many people you know support everything she had done reveals the truth. Spanberger IS a moderate Democrat. These policies are the policies of mainstream Democrats today and are at least acceptable to the majority of Democrats. That is the opposite of extreme. If she were truly extreme, the people you are discussing would be disturbed by her actions.
There are a lot of conservatives concerned by President Trump’s actions on Iran, so it isn’t like people blindly agree with everything their elected representatives say or do. Lots of people in my state are upset with Sen Lankford and feel he is an embarrassment after his begging for mercy after Jan 6 and siding with Democrats on lots of bills that almost all conservatives oppose. So, Lankford is more of an extremist Republican than Spanberger is an extremist Democrat.
Jack, do you know much about Nick Freitas, who was a Green Beret who served some time in the Virginian legislature? I had some of his YouTube videos show at one point, and I started listening to him (mainly because he has a snarky way of rebutting liberal talking points). He’s been chronicling the Spanberger administration and the slew of left-favoring bills progressing through the state legislature. It is frightening how far the Left is pushing with their agenda.
What also worries me is that liberals have a very good track record of sneaking these initiatives through on special elections, midterm ballots, and whatnot. The amendment to the Ohio constitution to enshrine abortion as law succeeded in part because the conservatives didn’t show up to vote, and in part because the liberals did. I fear this will happen in Virginia with this redistricting plan.
Does it seem like there is a basis to challenge this ballot on procedural grounds?
Yes, but as usual Republicans were asleep at the switch. I don’t know if the election can be challenged after the fact, but the ballot is undeniably misleading.
Jack, my understanding is that the Republicans have been fighting this since it was first announced. If I recall correctly the court challenge caused the Democrat legislature to change the date the special election to avoid violating their constitution. No one was asleep at the switch and I have been watching this from MD since day 1. WMAL’ s Larry O Connor and Vince Cologneise have been talking about this for months. What should be screamed from the rooftops is that outside billionaires are funding the massive propaganda campaign.
It can’t be legal to misstate what a ballot initiative does on the ballot, or to characterize disenfranchisement as “fair.” If the GOP is fighting this, it’s doing a lousy job.
Diabolically clever to bake that “October 31, 2030” in there. This offer is only good for this midterm, and next election – and expires 3 days before the next midterm. Can’t risk this power falling into Republican’s hands, after all.
I’m a volunteer election officer in Alexandria. The full text of the amendment and an explanation for voters are (1) on a large poster on the wall of the polling place and (2) in a “take one” style pamphlet at the information desk in the polling place. I had to vote absentee because I’m not assigned to my home precinct and can confirm Jack’s experience that it was not in the envelope with the absentee ballot. But I don’t know if it was required to be.
I just got back from voting, and I can confirm that:1) As Albert Turnbull says above, the full text and explanation was printed on a sheet that was posted in the area where one goes to actually do the coloring-in-of-the-ovals process. There may also have been pamphlets that one could take but I didn’t specifically look for them.2) The text on the ballot itself was indeed the same VERY NON-NEUTRAL text that is shown on the pic that heads this article.
I’m frankly disgusted by this whole scheme, and I do mean “scheme.” They would rather change the State Constitution for this ridiculous measure than try to win on the issues.
I’m fully expecting, if this measure doesn’t pass, that we’ll see these same obviously-gerrymandered district maps reappear exactly as they are in 2030.
–Dwayne
By the way, Harris carried Virginia in 2024 by about the same margin as Clinton in 2016.
Looking just now at Real Clear Politics, this amendment is narrowly losing 50.6 to 49.4 with 81% of the vote counted.
Oops, now the yes’s are up 7k with 85% counted. Perhaps a nailbiter.