A Virginia court issued a ruling Tuesday against Democrats’ redistricting effort in the state, concluding that lawmakers did not follow the proper procedures for approving a state constitutional amendment.
The proposed constitutional amendment is how Virginia Democrats’ planned to give themselves the power to draw new districts in the state this year, allowing the Legislature to engage in retaliatory redistricting if another state drew a new maps outside the usual decennial process or a court order.
State Democrats began the complicated legislative effort to redraw Virginia’s congressional map in late 2025 in order to force a statewide vote this year and put a new map in place for the 2026 elections.
But Tazewell County Circuit Court Judge Jack S. Hurley Jr. ruled the lawmakers made procedural errors in the process and cannot put the measure before voters in the promised April election.
The group supporting the amendment criticized the ruling in a statement.
“This is a clear attempt to confuse voters and block them from having a say. Republicans court-shopped for a ruling because litigation and misinformation are the only tools they have left,” Virginians for Fair Elections campaign manager Keren Charles Dongo said in a statement.