Cocky Virginia Dems Starting To Sweat Over April’s Referendum

The leftists who now control Virginia’s government desperately want you to believe that ripping up a bipartisan congressional map mid-decade for naked political advantage is fair. They insist as much in the language of the absurd referendum question before the commonwealth’s voters next month. 

“Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to allow the General Assembly to temporarily adopt new congressional districts to restore fairness in the upcoming elections, while ensuring Virginia’s standard redistricting process resumes for all future redistricting after the 2030 census?” the ballot asks.  

Did you get that? 

Fairness. Or in this case a radical gerrymander that would help Dems grab four additional House seats and a 10-1 seat edge in the next session of congress. 

Republicans sure don’t think that’s fair. Neither do a solid majority of Virginia voters, according to a new poll from Heritage Action. Asked whether electoral maps should represent the interests of politicians, or the interests of voters, 87 percent of respondents sided with voters. Another 61 percent of those surveyed said electoral maps should not disproportionately favor one political party over another. 

‘Orwellian Language’

The April 21 referendum is really about changing the constitution to allow Democrats to dominate the state’s congressional delegation — and to improve the radical left’s chances of taking back the House in November. It would ditch a bipartisan state redistricting commission’s maps drawn following the 2020 census and replace them with the Dem-friendly political boundaries. Maps that “would make the Democrats of Illinois, the gerrymander kings, blush,” as Jacob Alderman, chairman of the Prince William County/Manassas Park Republican Committee, described the Democrats’ “fairness.” 

Even they aren’t buying their crap. 

“[Democrats] must effectively make the case that even though this seems unfair in Virginia, it’s totally fair for America, for those of us who believe that taking back the House is the most significant thing we can do to stop Donald Trump,” Rep. Donald Beyer, an Alexandria-Fairfax Democrat recently told NBC News. 

Like leftist-led California, Virginia Democrats are looking to their voters to change the state constitution to rig the system. It’s a partisan response to Republicans’ mid-decade redrawing of Texas’ political maps poised to deliver another five congressional seats for the GOP. 

In an X post earlier this week, investigative reporter Luke Rosiak wrote that the Virginia Department of Elections has told local registrars “NOT to display maps on the ballot so voters know what they are voting for in the redistricting ballot question.” True. An agency spokeswoman told The Federalist that the department is just following Virginia law. 

The Department of Elections has posted the ballot question wording and explanation on its website and provided it to local registrar’s offices for display in polling locations. But the statute mandates that the explanation of the ballot question “shall be presented in plain English.” 

April’s referendum question is as clear as mud, with the fragrance of “fairness.” 

“This is part of a widespread campaign to keep voters in the dark about what is actually happening,” said Matthew Hurtt, chairman of the Arlington GOP in a phone interview this week with The Federalist. He called it “Orwellian language.” 

‘Democrats Have to be Worried’

It appears a growing number of Virginia voters are seeing the light, and that has Virginia and national Democrats feeling a bit anxious a with less than a month to go before election day. 

Chris Marston, general counsel for the Virginia GOP, said early voting has seen “much higher” Republican turnout than usual. He and other party leaders told The Federalist they are seeing stronger local and regional grassroots engagement outside of Democrat-dominated northern Virginia. 

“Our data guys said we’re behind in early voting but the fact that’s it close at all is good news for us,” Marston said in a phone interview Wednesday, noting that Democrats generally vote early at a strong clip while Republicans historically turn out greater numbers on election day. 

“We’re also seeing in the Shenandoah a really aggressive citizen-driven opposition. They feel especially screwed being drawn into three districts,” the GOP official said. 

Virginia Democrats, according to Politico, are looking to Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, to close the deal on the referendum so the Dems’ opportunistic gerrymander can be locked in by early voting in November’s midterms. They’re growing “increasingly worried about losing their April special election — and hurting their chances for flipping the House this November,” the liberal news outlet reported Thursday. 

“…[D]espite Democrats having a fundraising advantage ten times that of the Republican side, the GOP is seeing strong early voting turnout,” Politico noted. 

How strong?  Republican congressional districts posted double-digit increases in early-voter turnout as of Thursday evening, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. 

“I think the Democrats have to be worried,” longtime Virginia political analyst Bob Holsworth told the Virginia Mercury earlier this week. “They have a financial advantage, but the challenge the Democrats have here is that they don’t really have a face for their campaign.”

Wake-up Call

The amendment question appears to be shaping up to be an early referendum on Spanberger, a radical leftist who laughingly ran as a moderate and won her bid for governor by double digits.  She ran on “affordability” and “steadiness.” In the opening months of Spanberger’s regime, Virginians are learning why the moderate act was Oscar-worthy. 

Earlier this month a Republican won a seat on the Prince William County Board of Supervisors for the first time in nearly 40 years. 

But Alderman, the local GOP chair, said the referendum remains an uphill battle, with so much at stake. He noted the new maps would split Prince William County into five different congressional districts. 

Hurtt , the chairman of the Arlington GOP, said Republicans may be facing headwinds heading into the midterms, but a loss at the polls next month for Virginia Democrats would send a message that the blue wave may not be as powerful as once believed. 

Still, Republicans have a record of grabbing defeat from the jaws of victory. 

Alderman, the local GOP chair, said the referendum remains an uphill battle, with so much at stake. He noted the new maps would split Prince William County into five different congressional districts.

That doesn’t seem fair.  

Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.