Virginia judge blocks redistricting referendum result

A Virginia circuit court judge on Wednesday issued an order blocking the results of a congressional redistricting referendum that could net Democrats four extra seats in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2026.

Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones, in a statement, vowed to fight the order issued by Judge Jack Hurley, a Republican appointee.

“My office will immediately file an appeal in the Court of Appeals,” Jones said.

“As I said last night, Virginia voters have spoken, and an activist judge should not have veto power over the People’s vote,” the attorney general said. “We look forward to defending the outcome of last night’s election in court.”

Earlier Wednesday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries struck a defiant tone on the heels of Democrats‘ win in Virginia in the partisan gerrymandering war leading up to November’s midterm elections.

“House Democrats will continue to fight one battle after another on behalf of the American people,” Jeffries, D-N.Y., said at a press conference at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, in an apparent reference to the Paul Thomas Anderson’s Oscar’s Best Picture winner.

“Last night was a big victory for the people of Virginia. A big victory for America. And a big victory for democracy. [President] Donald Trump and Republicans launched this gerrymandering war, and we made clear as Democrats that we’re going to finish it,” Jeffries continued. “We will not let Donald Trump rig the midterm election.”

The Virginia redistricting referendum passed by three percentage points and could net Democrats four U.S. House seats this year. The measure allows for a temporary adoption of new district lines but would return control of redistricting to an independent commission in 2031.

The Trump administration argued the ballot initiative was not a clear-cut win for Democrats.

“This is a state in November of 2025 that went by 15 points to the Democrat for governor and about eight points for attorney general,” White House Deputy Chief of Staff and Trump political advisor James Blair said on Wednesday during an appearance on CNN’s “Inside Politics with Dana Bash.” “Last night this was a three-point race. That’s actually a three-point overperformance of the Trump 2024 historic performance in Virginia.”

“So just as a baseline, for all the Democrats crowing this morning, if Republicans perform anywhere near on average the way they did in Virginia last night, we not only add seats to the Senate, but we add seats to the House and we have a historic midterm,” Blair said.