# Redistricting in Virginia

Elections in Virginia :
Federal government
U.S. President
1788–89
1792
1796
1800
1804
1808
1812
1816
1820
1824
1828
1832
1836
1840
1844
1848
1852
1856
1860
1872
1876
1880
1884
1888
1892
1896
1900
1904
1908
1912
1916
1920
1924
1928
1932
1936
1940
1944
1948
1952
1956
1960
1964
1968
1972
1976
1980
1984
1988
1992
1996
2000
Dem
2004
2008
Dem
GOP
2012
2016
Dem
2020
Dem
2024
Dem
GOP
U.S. Senate
1788
1790 (sp)
1791
1792 (sp)
1793
1794 (sp)
1796
1798
1799 (sp)
1803
1803 (sp)
1804
1804 (sp)
1808
1809
1811
1814
1814 (sp)
1815 (sp)
1816
1816 (sp)
1819 (sp)
1821
1822 (sp)
1823
1824
1824 (sp)
1827
1829
1832 (sp)
1833
1834 (sp)
1835
1836 (sp)
1837
1837 (sp)
1839
1840
1841 (sp)
1845
1845 (sp)
1846
1847 (sp)
1850
1852
1856
1858
1861 (sp)
1863
1865
1865 (sp)
1870
1871
1875
1877
1881
1883
1887
1889
1893
1893 (sp)
1894
1899
1899
1904
1906
1910
1911
1912
1912 (sp)
1916
1918
1920 (sp)
1922
1924
1928
1930
1933 (sp)
1934
1936
1940
1942
1946
1946 (sp)
1948
1952
1954
1958
1960
1964
1966
1966 (sp)
1970
1972
1976
1978
1982
1984
1988
1990
1994
1996
2000
2002
2006
2008
2012
2014
2018
2020
2024
2026
U.S. House
1789
1790
9th sp
1793
1795
1797
1798 (9th sp)
1799
1800 (13th sp)
1801
1803
1804
5th sp
13th sp
1805
13th sp
1807
17th sp
1809
21st sp
1st sp
1811
1813
1814 (11th sp)
1815
15th sp
1816
18th sp
23rd sp
1817
1818 (19th sp)
1819
1820
1st sp
10th sp
17th sp
20th sp
1821
1822 (2nd sp)
1823
1824 (13th sp)
1825
1826 (5th sp)
1827
1829
10th sp
1831
1833
1835
1837
1839
1841
1843
1845
1847
1849
1851
1853
1855
1857
1859
4th sp
1861
11th sp
1862 (1st sp)
1869
1870
1872
1874
1876
1878
1880
1882
1884
7th sp
1886
1888
1890
1892
1894
7th sp
1896
1898
1900
1902
1904
1906
1908
1910
1912
1914
1916
1918
1st sp
1920
4th sp
1922
1924
1926
1928
1930
1932
1934
1936
1938
1940
1942
1944
2nd sp
1946
5th sp
6th sp
7th sp
1948
4th sp
1950
1952
1954
1956
1958
1960
1962
1964
1966
1968
1970
1972
6th sp
1974
1976
1978
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
5th sp
1990
1991 (7th sp)
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2001 (4th sp)
2002
8th
2004
2006
2007 (1st sp)
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
10th
2020
2022
2023 (4th sp)
2024 :
State government
Governor
1776
1851
1855
1859
1863
C
U
1869
1873
1877
1881
1885
1889
1893
1897
1901
1905
1909
1913
1917
1921
1925
1929
1933
1937
1941
1945
1949
1953
1957
1961
1965
1969
1973
1977
1981
1985
1989
1993
1997
2001
2005
2009
2013
2017
2021
2025
Lieutenant Governor
1973
1977
1981
1985
1989
1993
1997
2001
2005
2009
2013
2017
2021
2025
Attorney General
1993
1997
2001
2005
2009
2013
2017
2021
2025
Senate
1967
1971
1975
1979
1983
1987
1991
1995
1999
2003
2007
2011
2015
2019
2023
House of Delegates
1975
1977
1979
1981
1982
1983
1985
1987
1989
1991
1993
1995
1997
1999
2001
2003
2005
2007
2009
2011
2013
2015
2017
2019
2021
2023
State elections
1989
1991
1993
1995
1997
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2023 :
Ballot measures
Statewide
1970
1972
1974
1976
1977
1978
1980
1982
1984
1986
1987
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
Fairfax County
2016 :
Alexandria
Mayor
2012
2015
2018
2021
2024
(List) :
Henrico County
Commonwealth's Attorney
2011
2015
2019 :
Norfolk
Mayor
2006
2010
2014
2016 :
Richmond
Mayor
2016
2020
2024 :
Virginia Beach
Mayor
2008
2012
2016
2018
2020
City Council
2020 :
vte :
Redistricting has been a controversial topic in Virginia due to allegations of gerrymandering. In the 2017 Virginia General Assembly, all of the redistricting reform bills were killed.

## Constitutional requirements

The Virginia Constitution states:
   "Members of the House of Representatives of the United States and members of the Senate and of the House of Delegates of the General Assembly shall be elected from electoral districts established by the General Assembly. Every electoral district shall be composed of contiguous and compact territory and shall be so constituted as to give, as nearly as is practicable, representation in proportion to the population of the district. The General Assembly shall reapportion the Commonwealth into electoral districts in accordance with this section in the year 2011 and every ten years thereafter."

## Congressional districts

The Republican Party lost one of its seats in Congress when a federal court redrew Virginia's 4th congressional district. A suit claimed the district had been racially gerrymandered to give an advantage to white Republicans. The ruling in that case found that the General Assembly in 2012 unconstitutionally packed too many black voters into Bobby Scott's district, weakening the clout of blacks in nearby districts. This ruling allowed Democrat Donald McEachin to represent the 4th District in the newly convened U.S. House of Representatives.

## House of Delegates districts

Delegate Mark L. Cole noted that even without gerrymandering, political polarization will exist because of the stark political differences between urban and rural areas, which makes drawing competitive districts impossible in some regions of the state.
On 1 March 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court sent a case involving 12 Virginia House of Delegates districts back to a lower court to rule on 11 of those districts. Richmond Circuit Court Judge W. Reilly Marchant ruled that the constitutionality of the map was "fairly debatable" and therefore upheld it. In June 2018, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia found that the 11 districts unconstitutionally concentrated black voters, depriving them of representation. The Court gave the Virginia legislature until October 30, 2018, to submit a new map, but the Republican-majority Assembly was unable to agree on a map that would also be supported by Democratic Governor Ralph Northam, and the Court instead appointed University of California, Irvine political science professor Bernard Grofman to serve as special master to oversee the redistricting process.

## Proposed reforms

Article II, section 6 on apportionment states, "Members of the ... Senate and of the House of Delegates of the General Assembly shall be elected from electoral districts established by the General Assembly. Every electoral district shall be composed of contiguous and compact territory and shall be so constituted as to give, as nearly as is practicable, representation in proportion to the population of the district." The Redistricting Coalition of Virginia proposes either an independent commission or a bipartisan commission that is not polarized. Member organizations include the League of Women Voters of Virginia, AARP of Virginia, OneVirginia2021, the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and the Virginia Organizing Project. Governor Bob McDonnell's Independent Bipartisan Advisory Commission on Redistricting for the Commonwealth of Virginia made its report on April 1, 2011. It made two recommendations for each state legislative house that showed maps of districts more compact and contiguous than those adopted by the General Assembly.
In 2011, the Virginia College and University Redistricting Competition was organized by Professors Michael McDonald of George Mason University and Quentin Kidd of Christopher Newport University. About 150 students on sixteen teams from thirteen schools submitted plans for legislative and U.S. congressional districts. They created districts more compact than the General Assembly's efforts. The "Division 1" maps conformed with the Governor's Executive Order, and did not address electoral competition or representational fairness. In addition to the criteria of contiguity, equipopulation, the federal Voting Rights Act and communities of interest in the existing city and county boundaries, "Division 2" maps in the competition did incorporate considerations of electoral competition and representational fairness. Judges for the cash award prizes were Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution and Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute.
In January 2015, Republican State Senator Jill Holtzman Vogel of Winchester and Democratic State Senator Louise Lucas of Portsmouth sponsored a Senate Joint Resolution to establish additional criteria for the Virginia Redistricting Commission of four identified members of political parties, and three other independent public officials. The criteria began with respecting existing political boundaries, such as cities and towns, counties and magisterial districts, election districts and voting precincts. Districts are to be established on the basis of population, in conformance with federal and state laws and court cases, including those addressing racial fairness. The territory is to be contiguous and compact, without oddly shaped boundaries. The commission is prohibited from using political data or election results to favor either political party or incumbent. It passed with a two-thirds majority of 27 to 12 in the Senate, and was then referred to committee in the House of Delegates.
In 2015, at Vesilind v. Virginia State Board of Elections in a Virginia state court, plaintiffs sought to overturn the General Assembly's redistricting in five House of Delegate and six state Senate districts as violations of both the Virginia and U.S. Constitutions because they failed to represent populations in "continuous and compact territory".

## Virginia Redistricting Commission

The Virginia General Assembly passed HJ 615 in 2019 and SJ 18 in 2020 to amend the state constitution to form a redistricting commission for the 2021 redistricting process. In accordance with Virginia's process for amending the state constitution, this proposed amendment had to pass through the General Assembly in two, concurrent years before being passed on to Virginia voters, who will vote on this referendum in November 2020. The amendment created a sixteen-member commission, composed of eight citizens, two Senate Democrats, two Senate Republicans, two House Democrats, and two House Republicans, to redistrict Virginia, instead of the General Assembly. It will also cement requirements for commission transparency and historic civil rights protections for racial and ethnic minorities in the Virginia Constitution. If the commission cannot agree or if the General Assembly rejects the commission's map twice, the Virginia Supreme Court will redraw the districts in accordance with existing standard, likely with the help of a Special Master. The amendment passed with 65.69% of the vote on November 3, 2020. The commission failed to agree on maps for the new districts, so in accordance with the Virginia Constitution, the Supreme Court took over responsibility from the group and completed the redistricting process in December 2021 with the help of two court-appointed special masters.