Virginia Supreme Court Voids Redistricting Vote, Blocking Democratic Map

The Supreme Court of Virginia on Friday voided the results of an April 21 election in which voters approved a constitutional amendment on congressional redistricting, blocking a new map that would have shifted four Republican-held seats toward Democrats. The 4-3 ruling held that the General Assembly violated a procedural requirement when it placed the amendment on the ballot, according to Ballotpedia News.

Voters had approved the amendment with 51.7 percent voting yes, Ballotpedia reported. It would have allowed the legislature to implement a new congressional map that, by the 2025 gubernatorial results, would have made four districts more Democratic.

The case turned on a clause in the Virginia Constitution requiring an election to intervene between a legislature’s first and second votes on an amendment. Voting in the November 2025 election began Sept. 19, 2025, the legislature cast its first vote Oct. 31 and Election Day was Nov. 4. Republican plaintiffs, including state Sen. Ryan McDougle, argued that the “general election” covers the entire voting period, so the first vote came during the election, not before it. Democrats, including House Speaker Don Scott, the defendant who appealed, argued it means only Election Day.

Justice D. Arthur Kelsey, writing for the majority, held that the general election runs from the first day of early voting through Election Day and noted that more than 1.3 million Virginians had already voted when the legislature took its first vote, Ballotpedia reported. The opinion relied on the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1997 decision in Foster v. Love, which defined an election as “the combined actions of voters and officials.” Justices Teresa Chafin, Stephen McCullough and Wesley Russell joined the opinion.

Chief Justice Cleo Powell dissented, joined by Justices Thomas Mann and Junius Fulton. The dissent said “general election” means Election Day alone, consistent with the General Assembly’s statutory definition, and that the majority relied on legislative history and dictionary definitions rather than the constitution’s text. It argued that the majority’s reading goes beyond Foster v. Love, since no combined action of voters and officials occurs during early voting.

Reaction split along party lines. Attorney General Jay Jones, a Democrat, called the order “unprecedented” and said his office is evaluating “every legal pathway forward.” Virginians for Fair Elections, the campaign that backed the measure, called the ruling “deeply troubling” for democracy. President Trump called it a “Huge win” for Republicans on Truth Social. McDougle said, “you cannot violate the Constitution to change the Constitution,” and “Every Virginian wins.”

The decision lands in a national redistricting contest. Ballotpedia counted eight states with new congressional maps, California, Florida, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas and Utah, with maps in Louisiana, Alabama and Georgia subject to change because of litigation. Before 2025, only two states had conducted voluntary mid-decade redistricting since 1970. The Virginia Supreme Court had on April 28 upheld an order blocking certification of the amendment, Ballotpedia reported earlier, and the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last week in Louisiana v. Callais has also changed the legal landscape for congressional maps. Ballotpedia did not report on further proceedings.