Virginia Democrats are pushing to redefine “election” as they appeal a state Supreme Court ruling that demolished their agenda to redistrict their state and hand to 51% of its residents, the Democrats, more than 90% of the state’s congressional representation.
The fight is over a gerrymandering that the Democrats pushed through a statewide vote. Their plan was to make 10 of the states 11 congressional districts Democrat majorities. The division right now is 6-5 with a Democrat majority, fairly accurately representing the 51%-49% Democrat-Republican divide in the state.
The Virginia Supreme Court struck it down because the state’s constitution requires an intervening election between two legislative votes on such an amendment.
The legislature, last year, took its first vote on the dispute after early voting already had started in the election.
So the Democrats, who long have argued that elections should be flexible, what with early voting, absentee voting, in-person voting, late voting and such, now all of a sudden are insisting that it actually is an “election” day.
The Virginia ruling will have a ripple effect across states as the 2026 midterms approach, dealing a blow to Democrat plans to manipulate redistricting to gain an advantage in Congress.
One dissenter in the Virginia decision, Cleo Powell, argued for what has been opposed by Democrats for years, an election day.
He said considering that an election has started, with early voting as it did in Virginia last year, would create confusion.
President Donald Trump and other Republicans claimed the momentum now heading into those midterms this fall.
Democrats responded with an emergency filing with the state Supreme Court to recognize an “election day,” instead of the election month they’ve sought for so long.
The motion demands the court pause issuance of its ruling while they trot up to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The Commonwealth and Appellants intend to file an Emergency Petition to the Supreme Court of the United States,” the filing said.
It is U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts who would handle a response should that filing be made.
The state court found that since the 2025 election already had begun before the first legislative vote, there was no “intervening” election before the second vote this year, a clear violation of the state constitution’s requirements.
Analysts say Virginia Democrats face obstacles at the U.S. Supreme Court because the fight mainly is over the interpretation of Virginia’s state constitution and election procedures, areas where the highest court typically lacks jurisdiction unless there is a federal constitutional issue.
At least a dozen states already have taken actions to redistrict, or are in that process, as part of the redistricting wars of 2026. But since Democrat states already had been so completely gerrymandered, analysts have concluded that the Republican party could end up gaining a dozen, or even more, congressional districts as the war plays out.
🚨 MAJOR BLOW TO DEMOCRATS IN THE US HOUSE
The VA Supreme Court ruled the Democrat attempt to gerrymander the state and make a 10-1 map is NULL AND VOID.
Republicans are absolutely DESTROYING Democrats in this redistricting war.
Democrats KNEW they didn’t follow the correct… pic.twitter.com/YV99PAxqsV
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) May 8, 2026
“We are in the depths of hell” Abby Philip has an EPIC meltdown on CNN NewsNight in the wake of the Virginia Supreme Court ruling that the Democrats’ gerrymandering was unconstitutional.
“America’s redistricting battles just became a full-fledged war. Democrats are vowing to go… pic.twitter.com/uQ8qLNc4eq
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) May 9, 2026
