Trump Celebrates ‘Huge Win’ After Virginia Court Strikes Down Redistricting Plan

(SeaPRwire) –   The Virginia Supreme Court ruled on Friday that Democrats’ redistricting referendum was invalid, delivering a significant setback to the party as the national battle over gerrymandering intensifies ahead of the fall midterm elections.

President Donald Trump described the court’s decision as a “huge win for the Republican Party” in a statement posted on Truth Social on Friday.

The Democratic effort aimed to flip four additional seats in the U.S. House, shifting Virginia’s congressional delegation from six Democratic seats and five Republican seats to ten Democratic and one Republican seat. The court’s ruling upholds the current voting map used in the 2024 elections, which includes several competitive districts, and effectively secures Republicans an advantage of six to eight more seats in the upcoming midterms.

This decision follows another recent blow to Democrats, when the U.S. Supreme Court last week weakened a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, reducing electoral influence for minority voters, particularly in Southern states.

Several Southern states have already acted on the Supreme Court’s ruling, including Tennessee, which approved a new congressional map just before the Virginia decision—likely eliminating the state’s only traditionally Democratic district.

Trump initiated the push for mid-decade redistricting last summer by urging Republican-led states to redraw their district boundaries outside the usual decennial cycle, which typically aligns with census data updates to reflect population shifts and migration patterns.

Below is what you need to know about the Virginia ruling and the current state of the redistricting conflict between Democrats and Republicans.

Millions of votes rendered void

More than three million Virginians voted in the April 21 referendum to redraw the state’s congressional map, with the measure passing by a narrow margin—about 1.6 million voters supported it, compared to 1.5 million who opposed it. The outcome was seen as a major victory for Democrats.

“Virginia voters have spoken, and tonight they approved a temporary measure to push back against a President who claims he is ‘entitled’ to more Republican seats in Congress,” said Democratic Governor Abigail Spanberger in a statement following the vote. “Virginians watched other states go along with those demands without voter input—and we refused to let that stand. We responded the right way: at the ballot box.”

However, the court’s Friday decision invalidated those votes.

Tram Nguyen, co-executive director of the voting rights organization New Virginia Majority, called the ruling “deeply troubling.”

“Millions of Virginians voted and decided that it was appropriate to redraw Virginia’s map, and approved that, and the Supreme Court of Virginia just tossed out the will of the people,” she told TIME.

House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York issued a statement saying that “the decision to overturn an entire election is an unprecedented and undemocratic action that cannot stand,” and added that lawmakers were considering legal options to challenge the ruling.

Revised definitions of election periods in state law

In a 4-3 ruling, Justice D. Arthur Kelsey wrote that the Democrat-controlled state legislature placed the mid-decade redistricting referendum on the ballot “in an unprecedented manner” and violated established procedures.

“This violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void,” Kelsey wrote.

The court determined that the April ballot measure breached the state constitution by redefining the timing of elections.

Under Virginia’s constitution, referendums must be passed by the legislature twice, with an intervening election between the two legislative votes. However, when the legislature first approved the amendment, early voting had already commenced—a period the court deemed part of the election process and therefore unconstitutional under state rules.

“This constitutional violation incurably taints the resulting referendum vote,” the majority opinion stated, “and nullifies its legal effect.”

In his dissenting opinion, Chief Justice Cleo Powell argued that the majority’s interpretation “broadened the meaning of the word ‘election,’ as used in the Virginia Constitution, to include the early voting period. This directly contradicts how both Virginia and federal law define an election.”

Nguyen emphasized that the implications of the decision extend far beyond redistricting. “The consequences of the decision actually extend well beyond the map,” she explained, “based on this reinterpretation of what constitutes an election period. Their ruling now essentially says that an election in Virginia lasts 45 days, rather than being limited to Election Day—which goes against longstanding precedents across the country.”

A setback for Democrats in Tennessee

On Thursday, Tennessee’s Republican-led legislature passed a revised congressional map that splits Memphis, the state’s sole majority-Black district and Democratic-held seat.

The new map was signed into law by Republican Governor Bill Lee and divides Memphis, currently represented by Rep. Steve Cohen, into three separate districts. This change disperses Democratic voting strength by spreading it across rural, predominantly Republican areas.

“The Supreme Court has opined that redistricting, like the judicial system, should be color-blind,” Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton wrote on social media on Wednesday. “The decision indicated states can redistrict based on partisan considerations. Today, Tennessee joins other states—both red and blue—in updating its congressional maps.”