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The party could add two or three House seats in a logistically challenging process.
Democrats in Virginia are pushing to redraw their state’s congressional maps to add two or three House seats in the state for their party, according to two Democratic sources with knowledge of the plan, a surprise move in the ongoing mid-decade redistricting battles sparked by President Donald Trump’s desperation to hold on to the House in the 2026 midterms.
Republicans in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina have already moved to create seats for their party, and voters in California are widely expected to approve a new congressional map to add Democratic seats in that state early next month. But Virginia has been little discussed as an option for where Democrats could add seats.
The move also shakes up the state’s governor, attorney general and state legislature elections, which are just 11 days away. Polling indicates voters in the blue-leaning state were already inclined to back Democrats as a check on Trump’s administration, and Democrats are likely to see a chance to directly defy the president as an additional reason to vote.
Virginia’s General Assembly would need to vote twice — once before Election Day 2025 and again in 2026 — to create a voter referendum to approve more Democratic-friendly maps.
Successfully adding the seats would be logistically complicated, in part because Virginia voters approved a constitutional amendment creating an independent redistricting commission in 2020. The legislature will have to vote on the new maps once before Election Day 2025, and again once the legislature convenes in 2026. Then, the maps would go to the voters for approval in early 2026 and would be used in the midterms later that year.
Democrats narrowly control both chambers of the General Assembly and are expected to add seats in the House of Delegates in November.
The push seemed to catch even some high-profile Virginia Democrats by surprise. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) told HuffPost he was still seeking more information about the legislature’s plans.
Whatever is being discussed is not being done in a context of isolation,” Warner said. “I think this would not even be discussed if you weren’t seeing these actions in Republican-controlled states.”
The move was first reported by The New York Times.
