A Virginia judge ruled on April 22 that the state’s redistricting referendum approved by voters a day earlier was invalid, nullifying the election results.
Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones said he would immediately file an appeal.
“Virginia voters have spoken, and an activist judge should not have veto power over the People’s vote,” Jones said in an X post.
Tazewell Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley entered an injunction blocking certification of the election.
Former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli said the legal fight was just beginning after language used in the ballot question raised a lot of interest among the opposition.
The question voters faced was the following: “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?”
Cuccinelli expects the case to move quickly through the appeals process.
“The ‘yes’ folks probably are going to look back at Tuesday and think that was the easy part because they have so badly violated several constitutional provisions,” Cuccinelli told “The Scott Jennings Show.”
The referendum faces three legal challenges in addition to the one decided on April 22.
“Here’s my prediction, the referendum gets tossed out in May,” Cuccinelli said in an X post.
Three of the lawsuits challenge the referendum on procedural grounds, arguing that Democratic Party lawmakers didn’t follow the law regarding timing requirements and legislative steps when passing the measure to place it on the ballot.
The fourth argument is about how the electoral districts were drawn and challenges the maps on contiguity requirements.
Tens of millions of dollars were spent to pass the redistricting referendum as Democrats across the nation continue their quest to redraw congressional seats in favor of taking back the U.S. House.
The referendum’s political action group, Virginians for Fair Elections, raised more than $64 million by April 13, according to the Virginia State Board of Elections campaign finance reports.
According to the finance reports, much of the funding came from national Democratic political action organizations in the Washington area, including congressional committees and the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, the League of Conservation Voters, Common Ground, and The Fairness Project, a labor union-backed activist organization.
House Majority Forward, a progressive Super PAC launched by Democrats that does not have to disclose its donors, contributed $38.8 million to the redistricting effort.
Voters approved the new map by a thin margin—51.5 percent to 48.5 percent—making Virginia the latest state to gerrymander its congressional seats in favor of Democrats. The map is intended to give the Democratic Party 10 out of the 11 congressional seats in the state, a drastic shift from the current map, in which Republicans hold five districts.
Virginia is the latest blue state to march into the redistricting battleground. California also passed a referendum, likely giving Democrats in that state three to five additional seats in the upcoming general election. Utah’s new map, enacted through a court order, may add one Democratic House seat.
On the Republican side, a new congressional map in Texas is expected to give the GOP three to five new seats. Ohio and West Virginia could gain one each, while Louisiana and Missouri are awaiting court rulings to redistrict. Florida officials have not yet decided whether to redraw the state maps.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) encouraged South Carolina to consider jumping into the fight.
“I would encourage South Carolina’s next Republican governor and the Republican legislature to seriously look at what our state’s response should be to Democrats in Virginia,” Graham said in an X post on April 22. “Republicans in South Carolina should consider being bold and fighting back.”
