{"id":86963,"date":"2026-02-04T11:00:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T11:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/?p=86963"},"modified":"2026-02-04T11:00:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T11:00:18","slug":"judge-blocks-virginia-dems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/?p=86963","title":{"rendered":"Judge Blocks Virginia Dems"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A Virginia state judge on Tuesday struck down a Democrat-led effort to redraw the state\u2019s congressional districts ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, calling the plan \u201cinvalid\u201d and a blatant violation of the state\u2019s constitutional procedures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tazewell Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley Jr. ruled that Democrats in the General Assembly failed to follow several key requirements when advancing a proposed constitutional amendment that would have authorized a mid-decade redistricting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democrats, who gained full control of the Virginia legislature and governor\u2019s office in 2025, had fast-tracked the amendment in a special session earlier this month, seeking to push new maps that would have given them control of 10 of the state\u2019s 11 U.S. House seats \u2014 despite the fact that nearly half of Virginians voted for President Donald Trump in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hurley\u2019s decision halts the plan entirely and prevents it from appearing on the ballot as a statewide referendum, ensuring that the 2026 elections will proceed under the existing congressional maps drawn after the 2020 Census.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his ruling, Hurley said the General Assembly\u2019s actions violated procedural rules in three ways: lawmakers failed to include the redistricting amendment in the official agenda for the special session, they did not approve the measure before the previous general election, and they failed to publish the amendment for public notice at least three months before that election \u2014 as required under Virginia law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe legislature cannot ignore its own constitutional obligations in the name of expediency,\u201d Hurley wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The case was brought by Virginians for Fair Maps, a Republican-backed group led by former Virginia Congressman Eric Cantor, State Sen. Ryan McDougle, and Del. Terry Kilgore, who argued the redistricting maneuver amounted to an illegal power grab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe court made clear that elections matter, notice matters, and the rules apply to everyone \u2014 even those in power,\u201d the group said in a joint statement after the ruling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democrats immediately accused Republicans of \u201ccourt-shopping,\u201d noting that the suit was filed in heavily conservative Tazewell County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNothing that happened today will dissuade us from continuing to move forward and put this matter directly to the voters,\u201d Democratic leaders said in a joint statement. \u201cRepublicans who can\u2019t win at the ballot box are abusing the legal process to block Virginians from voting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democratic leaders had hoped to put the proposed amendment before voters in an April referendum \u2014 a move that could have reshaped Virginia\u2019s political landscape and possibly shifted control of the U.S. House of Representatives during President Trump\u2019s second term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis was a transparent attempt to rig the system in their favor,\u201d said a Virginia GOP official familiar with the case. \u201cDemocrats were trying to rewrite the rules of the game right before the next election. The court did the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A Virginia state judge on Tuesday struck down a Democrat-led effort to redraw the state\u2019s congressional districts ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, calling the plan \u201cinvalid\u201d… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86963"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=86963"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86964,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86963\/revisions\/86964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=86963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=86963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=86963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}