By OLIVIA DIAZ and DAVID A. LIEB
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Democrats are taking steps to redraw their state’s U.S. House districts, hoping to boost their party’s chances in next year’s midterm elections and counter President Donald Trump’s push for more partisan districts in Republican-run states.
Virginia House Speaker Don Scott sent a letter Thursday to members telling them to convene Monday for a special session but did not state a reason. The purpose includes congressional redistricting aimed at gaining more Democratic-held seats, according to four sources with direct knowledge of the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because they are not authorized to publicly discuss them.
Virginia would be the second state with a Democratic-led legislature after California to enter a national redistricting battle with enormous stakes. If Democrats gain just three more seats, they would take control of the House and effectively impede Trump’s agenda.
Republican lawmakers in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina already have approved new congressional maps aimed at helping their party win more seats and retain the slim GOP House majority. And even more states are considering redistricting as the battle front widens.
A spokeswoman for Democrats’ House campaign arm characterized Virginia’s effort as the party pursuing “every available tool to counter Republicans’ desperate attempts to steal the midterms.”
“Virginia’s decision to convene and preserve the right to consider a new map in 2026 is critical in the fight to ensure voters have fair representation,” said Courtney Rice, communications director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Republicans vowed to fight. Virginia House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore said Democrats missed their opportunity to carry out this procedure by 2026 and that it’s “too late constitutionally” to do so.
“We are going to do everything legally we can do to stop this power grab,” Kilgore said.
Voting districts typically are redrawn at the start of each decade to account for population changes noted by the census. But Trump took the unusual step over the summer of urging Republican-led states to reshape key districts to try to buck a historical trend of a president’s party losing seats in midterm elections.
Virginia currently is represented in the U.S. House by six Democrats and five Republicans who ran in districts whose boundaries were imposed by a court after a bipartisan redistricting commission failed to agree on a map after the 2020 census.
The effort to redraw Virginia’s congressional districts comes in the final weeks before the Nov. 4 state legislative and statewide elections. But Monday’s session is just the start of what could be a long legislative process, running past the election.
Because Virginia’s redistricting commission was established by a voter-approved constitutional amendment, the electorate must sign off on any changes. And any proposed change to the constitution must first pass the legislature in two separate sessions. Democrats are scrambling to hold that first vote this year, so that they can approve the change a second time after a new legislative session begins Jan. 14.
Voters still would have to approve a change in the constitution to allow using the new House map. And that vote would need to occur before congressional primaries, which are currently set for June 16 — though dates for such elections have been pushed back in the past.
In many states, congressional districts are drawn by state lawmakers, subject to the approval of the governor. But North Carolina’s new map, which received final approval Wednesday from the Republican-led Legislature, did not have to go to Democratic Gov. Josh Stein. Those changes target a swing district held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Don Davis by adding areas that contain more Republican-leaning voters.
Like Virginia, California has a constitutionally established redistricting commission, which approved maps after the 2020 census. California voters are to decide in a Nov. 4 election whether to temporarily suspend those districts and instead use a map approved by the Democratic-led Legislature that could help Democrats pick up as many as five additional seats.
No voter approval is necessary for the revised districts in Missouri, North Carolina or Texas, though opponents in Missouri are gathering petition signatures to try to force a statewide vote on their new map.
Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Missouri. Associated Press writers Leah Askarinam in Washington and Steve Peoples in New York contributed to this report.
Diaz is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
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