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Virginia voters considering redrawing congressional districts to favor Democrats

The Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, Virginia, US, on Monday, Nov. 3, 2025. Abigail Spanberger will face off with Winsome Earle-Sears on November 4, giving the state its first female governor. (Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

(VIRGINIA) — Virginia residents could soon vote on whether the legislature can redraw the state’s congressional map mid-decade, a key development in a larger push by both parties to redraw U.S. House seats in their favor ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger on Friday signed a bill that sets an April 21 statewide vote on a constitutional amendment that would allow legislators to redraw congressional districts in the middle of the decade. Congressional maps are usually only drawn after the release of data from the census.

Democrats have framed the potential redraw as a response to how Republicans have redrawn U.S. House seats in their favor through mid-decade redistricting already in Texas, North Carolina, Ohio and Missouri. Democrats have netted potential seats in California and Utah so far, but have fewer opportunities overall to redistrict.

Spanberger’s bill signing came the day after Democrats in Virginia’s state legislature unveiled the proposed congressional map that they hope to implement in time for the 2026 midterms, which could allow Democrats to potentially flip up to four GOP-held seats if implemented.

The map itself will not be voted on in the April referendum, but Democrats indicated they wanted to have a map proposal made public beforehand so that voters could know what may be passed into law if the referendum goes in their favor.

Democratic legislators will need to get through ongoing legal challenges as well, as a state court in Virginia ruled last month that the constitutional amendment is illegal because of the procedures the Democrats used to move the amendment through the legislature. The case is being taken up by the state’s Supreme Court. 

Republicans opposing the Democratic-led redistricting effort slammed the proposed map as a partisan gerrymander.

“Only those who crave complete political control and are willing to silence millions of Virginians will attempt to defend this abomination,” Jason Miyares, the former Republican Attorney General of Virginia who is a co-chair of the Virginians for Fair Maps group, wrote on X on Thursday. 

Meanwhile, in nearby Maryland, Democrats are split over whether the state should take part in the mid-decade redistricting scramble. 

Maryland’s House of Delegates recently passed a bill containing a new congressional map that could allow Democrats to flip the state’s lone GOP-held congressional district.

But that effort, championed by Maryland’s Gov. Wes Moore, is held up in the state Senate, where Senate leader Bill Ferguson has said he remains opposed to mid-decade redistricting. Ferguson told reporters on Tuesday that it “is a path towards mutually assured destruction.”

ABC News’ Ford McCracken and Halle Troadec contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Local newsNational

100 million on alert for dangerous cold, as some see coldest winds of season

ABC News

(NEW YORK) — At least 100 million Americans are on alert for dangerous cold weather in the coming days across the East as brutal, eye-watering cold winds — the coldest of the season for some — are expected across the Northeast this weekend.

Wind chills in the -20s are possible in Michigan and northern Ohio through Saturday morning, with -10s for southern Ohio and West Virginia.

Richmond, Virginia, could reach below-zero wind chills this weekend.

Extreme cold warnings are in place across much of the Northeast, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont.

New York City could reach as low as -20 this weekend, and upstate New York around Saranac Lake could reach -40. Frostbite can occur in 10 minutes on exposed skin. 

Much of this extreme cold is due to strong winds gusting 30 to 50 mph this weekend, especially Saturday.   

Monday morning will still be very cold across the Northeast, but the wind will be calmer, so wind chills won’t be as extreme.

Slowly through the week, a warming trend is expected across the East, with high temperatures going above freezing for New York City and Boston on Wednesday, possibly even on Tuesday. 

The end of next week is looking above average across the middle of the country, while the Northeast feels seasonal mid-February winter temperatures.

The system ushering in the brutal cold also brings some snow.

Friday morning, snow was falling over Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, western Pennsylvania and western New York.

By Friday afternoon, snow will become more scattered and fall from the Appalachians of western North Carolina through upstate New York.

A few light snow showers or flurries will pass over New York City on Friday night, and much of Saturday is looking dry. A dusting up to 1 inch of snow is possible over the city on Friday night. 

On Saturday, Boston and much of New England will continue to see passing snow showers.

Boston could see 2 to 4 inches of snow through Saturday evening.

The western New York I-90 corridor could see 2 to 5 inches of snow through Saturday evening, including Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo.

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