No Surrender After Virginia Map Decision
Scripts, language to push Democratic leaders to keep pushing for balanced districts - plus getting engaged in elections and fighting fire with fire in blue states
We won’t mince words: the Virginia Supreme Court’s 4-3 decision to strike down the voter-approved redistricting plan is very bad news for the Democratic Party and democracy. It unbalances maps towards Republicans at a time when they are busily taking advantage of the gutting of the Voting Rights Act to eliminate left-leaning seats across the South. Their chances of winning the House this November are noticeably better today than they were Friday morning.
But let’s also be clear: Democrats were the favorite to win the House the day before the opinion in Louisiana v. Callais, and they still are now.
Prices are still skyrocketing, Trump is still wildly unpopular, and there is only so much redrawing the lines can accomplish if Republican voters are unsatisfied, Democratic voters are motivated and independents are ready for a change. Some of these gerrymanders could backfire, and several of the seats that just tilted back towards the GOP in Virginia may flip even under the old maps. Analysis by G. Elliott Morris indicates that the worst-case scenario on continued GOP gerrymandering would mean the Democrats will need to win the House popular vote by four points to take the chamber – less than their current advantage in generic balloting and half what they won by in 2018.
If you won’t take people like Dan Pfeiffer (here), Robert B. Hubbell (here), L O L G O P (here) or Jess Craven (here)’s word for it, just look at what the GOP itself is doing: they reserved millions of dollars in fall ad time in Ohio to defend seats Trump won in 2024 by seven and eleven points. This is not the stuff of a party on offense.
This is going to be harder than we thought it was. That doesn’t mean we’re doomed, but it does mean we’ll need to put a little more work in. 🙋🏿 If we’re anxious about this, the best thing we can possibly do right now is start volunteering to help some of our House candidates. We can find a full list of opportunities on our midterms action page here. 🙋🏻
☎️ This setback is also a stark reminder of the power of state supreme courts. We’re eight days from a shot at unseating two GOP justices in Georgia – we can sign up to help out here. ☎️
It’s also at this moment worth taking a page from the Republican playbook. When courts rule against GOP gerrymanders, they don’t stop pushing for the use of their maps. They keep fighting it out in the courts and in the political branches, and at times they’ve been rewarded for it. They’ve complied in name only, found loopholes, and torn up the rulebook, and it has worked to their advantage. Given their increasing lack of interest in the basic protections of democracy, we should do the same in response to this decision in Virginia. Democrats have already appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and asked the state’s justices to delay issuing their mandate. While there’s no easy route forward, we must at least try to do more.
There have been several suggestions as to how Democrats can challenge this ruling. Among the boldest has been a proposal by Michigan State law professor and state constitutional expert Quinn Yeargain at The Downballot, calling on state legislators to use their clear authority to set a new judicial retirement age and force some (or all) of the judges in the majority to step down before an appeal. There’s also been mention of attempting to invalidate the constitutional amendment creating Virginia’s independent redistricting commission on procedural grounds to allow Democrats to redraw the lines Without endorsing any specific path, we should and must entertain this sort of outside the box idea. 🗣️ Let’s reach out to Democratic elected officials at the federal and state level (governor, attorney general, delegates, state senators) in Virginia and demand they do everything legally in their power to secure the fair maps that the people of their commonwealth voted for. They must be as creative and aggressive as their opponents. We can find scripts and language to use here. 🗣️
🗣️ And if we’re in one of the eight blue trifecta states with Republican House members, let’s keep pushing our own leaders to fight fire with fire and aggressively rebalance our maps to cancel out the GOP gerrymanders. We can find scripts and language to use here. 🗣️
Last updated 5/10/26.
PHONE SCRIPTS:
You can find contact info for Virginia’s congressional delegation here, Governor Abigail Spanberger here, Attorney General Jay Jones here, Democratic state senators here and Democratic members of the House of Delegates here. Please adjust, add, and reword as you would see fit - you will be most effective speaking in your own words!
Hi, my name is _________.
Republicans have allowed nothing to stop them from tilting the House playing field in their favor. They’re trying to steal a victory, and we need to be as aggressive as they are to protect it. We should not accept this defeat at the state supreme court as the complete end of the line.
Legal and political commentators have suggested everything from changing the judicial retirement age to challenging the original independent redistricting commission amendment to secure the maps the people of Virginia voted for, even after the rulings against them. Whether it’s one of these options or something else, do everything legally in your power to keep pushing. This is the time to be bold and creative in defense of our democracy.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
EMAIL LANGUAGE
You can find contact info for Virginia’s congressional delegation here, Governor Abigail Spanberger here, Attorney General Jay Jones here, Democratic state senators here and Democratic members of the House of Delegates here. Please adjust, add, and reword as you would see fit - you will be most effective speaking in your own words!
SUBJECT: The people of Virginia still want a fair election
Republicans have allowed nothing to stop them from tilting the House playing field in their favor. They’re trying to steal a victory, and we need to be as aggressive as they are to protect it. We should not accept this defeat at the state supreme court as the complete end of the line.
Legal and political commentators have suggested everything from changing the judicial retirement age to challenging the original independent redistricting commission amendment to secure the maps the people of Virginia voted for, even after the rulings against them. Whether it’s one of these options or something else, do everything legally in your power to keep pushing. This is the time to be bold and creative in defense of our democracy.