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Virginia voters settled the redistricting question in 2020. Nearly two-thirds of Virginians amended our Constitution to create an independent redistricting commission and take map-drawing power away from politicians. The message was unmistakable: stop the gerrymander. Stop letting politicians choose their voters.
Democrats applauded that reform. House of Delegates Speaker Don Scott praised fairness and transparency. Senate President pro tempore L. Louise Lucas declared it would ensure “an equitable, transparent and bipartisan process to ensure our electoral maps are drawn fairly.” Rep. Don Beyer said plainly, “Gerrymandering is cheating. It allows politicians to select their voters, when it should be the other way around.” They were right.
In 2019, Abigail Spanberger said, “Gerrymandering is detrimental to our democracy. Opposing gerrymandering should be a bipartisan priority.” While running for governor, she added, “Short answer is no. I have no plans to redistrict Virginia.”
That was before she took office.
Now Gov. Spanberger has signed legislation clearing the way for an extreme 10-1 congressional map, a plan that would give Democrats 10 of Virginia’s 11 seats in a closely divided state.
When Democrats unveiled their 10-1 map, they were explicit about their intent. “We said 10-1 and we meant it,” Lucas declared. Scott called it “leveling the playing field across the country.” That language is revealing. This is not about communities of interest, compact districts, or neutrality. It is about national partisan math.
Scott has also said that manipulating election maps “overrides the will of the people.” Yet he now defends a map designed to give one party nearly total control of Virginia’s representation in Congress.
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You cannot condemn gerrymandering nationally and celebrate it locally. The answer to partisan map manipulation in another state is not to import it here. In 2020, 65% of Virginia voters decided to take map drawing out of the hands of politicians to prevent partisan gerrymandering. This is exactly why.
Virginia is a competitive state. Our congressional delegation stands at six Democrats and five Republicans. Republicans represent roughly 45% to 48% of the electorate. A 10-1 map does not reflect Virginia’s political reality. It manufactures a result.
The map Democrats released was crafted behind closed doors to engineer one of the most extreme partisan outcomes in the nation. It splits Northern Virginia into five districts, not to preserve communities of interest, but to manufacture advantage. It stretches regions that share little in common socially or economically, all to achieve a predetermined partisan outcome.
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That is gerrymandering.
“And it conflicts directly with Virginia state law, which requires that districts not “unduly favor or disfavor any political party” statewide. A 10-1 map in a 6-5 state raises serious constitutional concerns. It reflects politicians choosing their voters instead of voters choosing their representatives, the very practice Virginians rejected in 2020.
In 2019, Abigail Spanberger said, “Gerrymandering is detrimental to our democracy. Opposing gerrymandering should be a bipartisan priority.”
The General Assembly has scheduled an April 21 referendum on a constitutional amendment that would bypass the independent commission and allow politicians to redraw congressional districts mid-decade. Put simply, this is an attempt to change the rules before the 2026 midterms.
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Constitutional guardrails exist for the moments when politicians most want to bend them. If those guardrails can be suspended once for partisan advantage, every future election becomes an excuse to do it again. That is how trust in elections erodes, not in one dramatic moment, but through repeated rule changes justified as “exceptions.”
Democrats argue Virginia must respond to what other states are doing. But if gerrymandering is detrimental to democracy, it does not become acceptable simply because it benefits your side.
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If independent redistricting was the right model in 2020, it is the right model now. And if Virginia voters placed guardrails in the Constitution to stop partisan manipulation, those guardrails should not be suspended because the political math has shifted.
Virginia chose fairness in 2020. That choice should stand.
Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans represents Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives.
Republican Rep. John McGuire represents Virginia’s 5th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives.
Republican Rep. Ben Cline represents Virginia’s 6th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives.
Republican Rep. Morgan Griffith represents Virginia’s 9th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM REP. ROB WITTMAN
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