RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Virginia judge ruled Tuesday that a proposed constitutional amendment that would have allowed Democrats to redraw the state’s congressional maps is illegal, setting back the party’s efforts to capture U.S. House seats in November.
Tazewell Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley Jr. dismissed the Legislature’s action on three grounds, including finding that lawmakers failed to follow their own rules in adding the redistricting amendment to the special session.
His order also said Democrats failed to approve the amendment before public voting began in last year’s election and failed to publish it three months before the election, as required by law.
He said that, therefore, the amendment was invalid and of no effect.
Virginia House Speaker Don Scott, who was named in a Republican lawsuit over the resolution, said Democrats would appeal the ruling.
“Nothing that happens today will stop us from moving forward and taking this matter directly to voters,” Scott said in a joint statement with other state Democratic leaders.
Virginians for Fair Elections, which supports the redistricting resolution, accused conservatives of filing a lawsuit in a jurisdiction known to be Republican-friendly, saying, “Republicans chose the courts to rule because litigation and misinformation are the only tools they have left.”
President Donald Trump launched an unusual mid-decade redistricting battle last summer when he urged Republican officials in Texas to redraw districts to help the party win more seats, hoping to preserve a slim majority in the House in the face of political headwinds that typically help the party lose power in midterm elections.
The battle so far has resulted in nine more seats that Republicans think they can win in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio, and six seats that Democrats think they can win in California and Utah. Democrats hope to fully or partially close a three-seat gap in Virginia.
Like Virginia, several states are still litigating over redistricting, and there is no guarantee that political parties will win the seats they redistrict.
Other states could still join the race: Democratic Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is pushing for redistricting that could help Democrats win all eight of the state’s U.S. House seats, compared with their current seven, while Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis plans to call a special session on redistricting in April.
Hurley’s ruling came after lawmakers said they would release proposed new House districts to voters by the end of the week.
The state currently has six Democrats and five Republicans in the House, whose district boundaries were drawn by the courts after a bipartisan redistricting commission failed to agree on post-2020 Census maps.
Because the commission was established under a voter-approved constitutional amendment, lawmakers must amend the constitution to redraw the map this year. That would require passing a resolution in two separate legislative sessions, with state elections in between.
Virginians must vote yes in the referendum.
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Associated Press writer David A. Lieb in Jefferson City, Missouri, also contributed.