The Virginia Democrats got their number last night. But what they got was not a mandate, it was a margin. A paper-thin three-point pager that cost them $64 million in dark money to pull off, in a state where the governor won by 15 points just a year ago. If this is what victory looks like for Democrats, Republicans should be encouraged.
Let’s be honest about what happened on April 21st. Voters across Virginia were asked to ratify an amendment that a sitting state court judge had already nullified not once, but twice, calling it a “blatant abuse of power.” They heard the word “fairness” on the ballot as Democrats designed a map showing ten of Virginia’s eleven congressional districts. They were told this was about the vote of the people, funded by $93 million in largely anonymous money, with $40 million coming from the House Democrats’ own political operation. If they had done the right thing, they wouldn’t have had to buy the election.
And the people of Virginia, especially in rural communities, saw through it. Early voting increased in more than 70 Republican rural counties. Lee County, Scott County, Alleghany County, communities that rarely make national headlines, turned out to forcefully say no to a gerrymander designed in a backroom by the same Richmond politicians who raised taxes and cultivated failing schools. That energy is real, it’s not going away, and we’re going to need it in November.
SOROS-SUPPORTED GROUP OF LIBERAL ORGANIZATIONS PUMPING CONSIDERABLE CASH INTO VIRGINIA GERRYMANDERING EFFORTS
But Democrats’ celebration of the vote could be premature. The vote is not the last word.
The Virginia Supreme Court has already told both sides exactly what comes next. Before the referendum could proceed, the justices wrote that “if voters approve the proposed amendment, we must exercise our constitutional duty to review lower courts’ declarations… and discuss de novo what equitable remedies, if any, are appropriate.” In plain English, the Court reserved the right to strike this card and set a briefing deadline for tomorrow, April 23. The legal battle is not over yet.
The constitutional flaws here are not minor. Democrats blocked this amendment through a special session intended solely to address the state budget, then expanded it to rewrite the rules for representation in Congress. They skipped the required 90-day public notice. And they passed the amendment even as more than a million Virginians had already cast ballots in the 2025 general election, a direct violation of Virginia’s constitutional requirement that amendments be passed before an election takes place. A judge found all three violations. The Virginia Supreme Court must now decide whether to uphold its own Constitution or step down, as Democrats have waged a successful and expensive public pressure campaign.
Now we must trust the Court to do its job.
And if the Court does its job, Republicans must be ready to fight the next battle. The RNC, the NRCC, Congressmen Ben Cline and Morgan Griffith filed suit because the process was corrupt from the start, not because Republicans fear competition. We are not afraid of competition. We fear a system in which constitutional guardrails are broken down when the other side decides they are uncomfortable. Today it’s Virginia. Tomorrow it’s your state.
This is the broader war the Democrats have declared. When President Trump and Republican governors used the legal redistricting process to draw competitive maps in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina, Democrats cried foul about gerrymandering. Then they turned around and drew a map in Virginia that is, objectively speaking, the most aggressively gerrymandered congressional map in the country. It divides Prince William County into five separate congressional districts, as well as Fairfax County into five separate congressional districts.
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Republican women in this country need to understand what is at stake. If this map holds, Democrats could gain four House seats in Virginia alone, potentially enough to flip the majority and put an end to the legislative agenda that benefits American families.
So here’s my message to Republican women in Virginia and across the country: Last night was a setback, not a surrender. The courts must take into account the questionable constitutionality of the referendum. Our lawyers are still fighting. Our voters showed up in record numbers in places no one expected. And when the Virginia Supreme Court rules, possibly within weeks, we must be ready to mobilize, organize, and strengthen whatever comes next.
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They spent $64 million to win by 3 points in a friendly state. We must spend our energy ensuring that investments never pay off.
Fight on.
