Lately, it seems that Democrats cannot win, even when they win.
The Supreme Court has struck down the Voting Rights Act, ruling that race cannot be a factor in drawing congressional districts, which has now set off southern red states to redraw all their districts to guarantee that their entire congressional delegation will be lily white.
And Republicans, who hate fair elections anyway, have redrawn their congressional districts mid-decade in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, and now in Florida, without putting it to a vote by the people, and can gain as many as 14 seats. But in Virginia, where the people did vote on it, four conservative justices have ruled it unconstitutional and thrown out the entire election.
Virginia’s high court ruled 4-3 on Friday that a redistricting referendum voters approved for the state last month violated procedural rules. The decision shot down a new congressional map that could have netted Democrats an additional four seats in the U.S. House.
The state Supreme Court ruled that the General Assembly began its constitutional amendment process too late to be lawful. The majority wrote, “This violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void.”
They did not rule against gerrymandering or the new map. They ruled against the timing. But you have to be especially stupid if you think Virginians didn’t know what they were voting on.
The state Supreme Court had previously allowed the April special election to go forward, while reserving the right to rule on the measure’s legality later on. Virginians narrowly voted in favor of the redistricting referendum by 3 points. It seems like the court wanted to wait and see who won before issuing a ruling.
Democrats spent over $62 million to win this election. The state spent $5 million to administer the election.
The original 6-5 Democratic-majority voting map will remain intact until the next redistricting period.
Republicans, who changed voting rules in every red state after Trump lost to President Joe Biden in 2020, are cackling over how the Virginia vote was unconstitutional.
Democrats were hoping to gain four more seats in Virginia, but now, Republicans could gain as many as 14 from redrawn maps across six states. Democrats need a net gain of at least three House seats in November to flip the House majority.
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