Gerrymandering

Virginia's Grotesque Gerrymander and the Bipartisan Death of Redistricting Reform

Republicans picked this fight, and Democrats responded by drawing some egregiously gerrymandered districts. In the end, voters lose.

Eric Boehm | 4.22.2026 12:20 PM

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL Add Reason to Google

Media Contact & Reprint Requests

(Wellesenterprises/Dreamstime/The Virginia Public Access Project/OpenStreetMap)

Back in 2019, Virginia's legislators made a broadly bipartisan decision to have the state's congressional map drawn, for the first time, by a commission that would include members of the public.

The commission failed. With its members deadlocked, the state Supreme Court stepped in and appointed two individuals—somewhat amusingly dubbed "Special Masters"—to produce a new map before the 2022 election cycle.

It was a mess, but even so, the result showed the potential benefits of trying to reduce (or at least balance) partisan influence in the district-drawing process. The 11 districts scored well in terms of compactness and competitiveness on various metrics used by redistricting reformers. The Gerrymandering Project at Princeton University gave an "A" to the map.

That congressional map is no more. It was trashed by Virginia voters, who narrowly approved a new congressional map in a referendum that ended on Tuesday night. The new map will remain in place until after the 2030 elections, when (in theory at least) the commission will be tasked with updating it after the next census.

Unlike the old map, the new one is a decidedly partisan effort. Both proponents and opponents of the redrawing effort believe it will send 10 Democrats to Congress next year along with just a single Republican—a huge swing from the state's current 6-5........

© Reason.com