We’re in the thick of it now, folks.
With the midterm elections looming in November – and Republicans holding just a razor-thin majority in the U.S. House of Representatives – Democrats are doing everything they can right now to rig things in their favor come Election Day.
One of those things is to wrest House seats from the GOP through redistricting/gerrymandering. What began as an all-out push by the Trump administration to have red states redraw boundaries (based on fresh census data) to favor Republicans ahead of the midterms has turned into a bit of a fiasco as crucial Republican-controlled states like Indiana abandon their redistricting efforts and Democrat-controlled states like Virginia go all-in on theirs.
In fact, Virginia Democrats are now one step closer to nuking three or four congressional seats currently held by Republicans, having set April 21 as the date for holding a referendum vote on new maps. The proposed date has to be approved by the Democrat-controlled state legislature and Democrat Governor Abigail Spanberger before the referendum can go before Virginians for a vote, but there’s little question the date will be approved by all.
Here’s the proposed language of the referendum question, as put forth by Democrats.