The final week of October in Richmond saw Virginia Democrats push to begin the process of amending the state constitution ahead of the 2025 election. Changing the Virginia Constitution requires lawmakers to pass resolutions in two consecutive legislative sessions, separated by an election.
The proposed amendment would allow redistricting ahead of the 2026 U.S. midterms, part of a larger national fight over control of congressional maps. The move comes on the heels of a Trump-backed effort by Republicans in Texas to redraw districts in a way that could net the party five additional congressional seats.
Similar Republican-led redistricting efforts are underway in North Carolina, Indiana, Ohio, and Missouri, while Democratic-controlled states like California and Illinois are pursuing their own countermeasures.
Last Monday, U.S. Representative Jennifer Kiggans (R-VA) declared, “We represent majority-making seats. I certainly represent the majority-making seat, and they want the United States House back. We’re not going to give it to them.”
Kiggans was standing alongside the four other Republican members of Congress representing Virginia. Out of the state’s eleven congressional districts, five are currently held by Republicans.
If the amendment is approved by voters next year, Kiggans could see her district redrawn in a way that favors a Democratic challenger. She represents Virginia’s Second Congressional District in the Hampton Roads area, where she is expected to face a strong contest next November. A redrawn map could mirror the fate of several Democratic members of Congress in Texas, whose districts were reshaped under a Republican-led plan.
As Democrats wrapped up their work on Halloween, the federal government shutdown had entered its 31st day, with Republicans refusing to negotiate while holding onto their narrow House majority. Back in August, President Donald Trump asserted that Republicans were “entitled to seats that were redrawn to favor Republicans.”
Virginia House of Delegates Cia Price (D) addressed the media, saying, “We are at an unprecedented time, so we are at an unprecedented session. To argue that Virginians are not impacted by what other states are doing is just not an understanding of civics and how the federal government works. So this is ultimately what we would want to send back to the voters for them to have another say now that the country has changed so much since 2020.”
Republicans outside of Virginia are using their majorities to reshape congressional maps in ways that benefit their party. Democrats in Virginia, rather than simply complain that the rules are unfair or go against the spirit of the law, are using the same political process to respond in kind, a taste of their own medicine.
Virginia State Senator Mamie Locke (D) echoed that sentiment after the resolution’s passage, saying, “Clearly, if the shoe was on the other foot, if they were in the majority, they would be doing the exact same thing that Texas, North Carolina, Missouri, Ohio, and all of these other states are doing. We would be in the middle of a redistricting fight here in Virginia if they were in charge.”
Virginia Republicans may argue that Democrats are acting unfairly and could challenge the measure through a lawsuit, but ultimately it will be up to voters to decide whether to approve the amendment when it appears on the ballot next year. For now, Republicans have found themselves outmaneuvered, as Democrats move at an unexpectedly swift pace.
Virginia State Senator Mark Peake (R) dismissed the effort entirely, calling it “a complete fiasco and a boondoggle,” adding, “This is not going to hold up.”
Read Goad Gatsby‘s original reporting HERE.
Photo of Congresswoman Jennifer Kiggans addressing audience in Richmond, Virginia. October 27, 2025 by Goad Gatsby
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