Democrats celebrate major redistricting win in Virginia Barack Obama has praised Virginia voters for backing the redrawn congressional maps that could give Democrats a significant boost in the midterm elections.
“Congratulations, Virginia! Republicans are trying to tilt the midterm elections in their favor, but they haven’t done it yet. Thanks for showing us what it looks like to stand up for our democracy and fight back,” the former president wrote in a post on X.com.
Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, said House Democrats have “crushed Donald Trump’s national gerrymandering scheme”, noting a string of state victories across the country.
A celebratory post from the office of Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, said California and Virginia were “protecting democracy”.
And Ken Martin, chair of the Democratic National Committee, praised Virginians for refusing to “let Trump play games with Americans’ right to fair representation”, saying, “Republicans can’t cheat their way out of accountability in 2026.”
The redistricting battle began last year after Texas’s Republican-controlled legislature redrew that state’s congressional maps in a bid to oust as many as five Democratic House lawmakers from their seats. Missouri and North Carolina also approved new district boundaries that could cost Democrats one seat in each state, as my colleagues summarized. California voters retaliated by passing new maps that could flip five Republican-held seats, and the Virginia election is now the second time a Democratic gerrymander was approved by voters.