The Advocate
Democrats continue winning in elections. A Virginia ballot initiative to redraw congressional districts has passed by a narrow margin, setting off a new front in the national fight over redistricting and drawing immediate praise from LGBTQ+ advocates and Democratic leaders who cast the result as a check on partisan power. According to Decision Desk HQ, the measure was approved with 50.65 percent of the vote compared with 49.35 percent. The race was called at 8:25 p.m. EDT Tuesday. As of 8:59 p.m., 2,722,255 votes had been counted, representing about 89.80 percent of the expected total. The amendment allows Virginia lawmakers to redraw the state’s congressional map this year, an unusual mid-cycle intervention that supporters argue is necessary to counter aggressive gerrymandering in other states. The vote is the latest escalation in a nationwide redistricting battle that has accelerated since 2025, when President Donald Trump and his allies pushed Republican -controlled states to redraw congressional maps ahead of schedule to protect the GOP’s narrow House majority. Efforts in states including Texas , Missouri , and North Carolina helped trigger the response. Democrats, initially caught off guard, began preparing countermeasures and, in several states, moved to redraw their own maps or pursue ballot initiatives like Virginia’s to blunt Republican gains. The Virginia measure was widely seen as part of that broader response, with national implications for control of the U.S. House. The Human Rights Campaign and its political arm, HRC PAC, pointed to the vote as a response to Republican-led redistricting efforts they say were designed to dilute the voting power of pro-equality constituencies. “Virginians made their voices heard today, rebuking Republicans’ attempts to stack the deck in their favor in the 2026 midterm elections and beyond,” Kelley Robinson , president of HRC, said in a statement. “Virginians just put anti-equality, anti-democracy, and anti-freedom lawmakers on notice.” National Democrats echoed that message, tying the Virginia result to a wider political struggle over the rules of American elections. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear , chair of the Democratic Governors Association, described the outcome as symbolic and strategic. “Tonight, Virginia voters sent a clear message rejecting Donald Trump’s attacks on our free and fair elections,” Beshear said. “The passage of this redistricting referendum is an important step to level the playing field, and a major loss for Donald Trump.” Beshear also credited Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger with helping advance the measure as part of a broader effort by Democratic governors to counter what he called “dangerous attempts to undermine our democracy.”
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