ACCOMACK COUNTY, VA - Virginians will have their first chance to weigh in on Democratic-led redistricting, including the district that represents the Eastern Shore, at the polls on Friday.
Under Virginia’s Constitution, the authority to redraw congressional districts is held by a bipartisan commission. This referendum would transfer that power to the state general assembly.
Democrats currently hold six of Virginia’s 11 U.S. House seats. The proposed map positions Democrats to a potential 10-1 advantage.
Governor Abigail Spanberger has said this is a temporary measure in response to President Donald Trump’s rhetoric around securing more Republican seats ahead of the November midterm elections.
In a video released Thursday, Governor Spanberger said of the strategy, "first, it's temporary … second, it's directly in response to what other states decide to do … third and most importantly to me, it preserves Virginia's fair redistricting process into the future."
Multiple attempts to stop the vote failed. For the second time, Virginia’s Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that voters can cast ballots on a Democrat-led congressional redistricting plan that could help the party win four more U.S. House seats, as the justices review legal challenges to the effort.
The current draft map would take red votes from Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District to the more Democratic-leaning District 3.
"It seems to me they're stacking the deck a little bit,” Thomas Reidy of Greenbackville said. "That they've forgotten about us, that we're sort of like an appendix and they don't really care."
Local leader Chincoteague Mayor Denise Bowden said redistricting is not a practice she supports, and that a potential change in representation could slow progress on priority issues for her town.
"When we get a good working relationship with a representative and then something like this comes along, you lose momentum very much,” Bowden said.
The current Virginia District 2 representative is Republican Congresswoman Jen Kiggans. While early voting begins Friday, the official referendum is scheduled for April 21.