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Virginia Passes New Map to Add More Democratic Congress Members [1]

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Date: 2026-04-22  

Congratulations Fighting Old Dominion Virginia Democrats–They Pass a New Map That Could Get Them Four More House Seats Aiding “Team Blue’s” 2026 Midterm House Majority Prospects– April 22, 2026

As the saying states, “What goes around, comes around.” Demagogue/Dictator Donald, remember, encouraged the Texas, Ohio, Missouri, and North Carolina GOP-dominated legislatures to do some rather contorted mid-term redistricting to get more “Team Red” seats to try to keep the GOP’s House majority in the 2026 midterms. Well, this time, Democrats didn’t just sit back and whine about the Trumpist/GOP action and take what “Team Red” tried to dish out for them. In California, with Gov. Newsom’s encouragement, voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 50 in November 2025. Proposition 50 made it likely that 5 of CA’s GOP congressional districts could be won by Democrats in 2026 and also bolstered the re-election chances of 3 Democrats currently holding competitive House districts. https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/11/proposition-50-newsom-election-day/Gov. Newsom and his fellow CA legislators declared they would not let Texas get away with adding more GOP House seats. The Golden State would answer in kind by adding a similar or additional amount of Democratic seats. If the GOP wants a political arms race, the Democrats would give it to them.

California has often been a trend setter that many other states follow, and, certainly, as the most populated “Blue” State leading the resistance to Demagogue/Dictator Donald, other Democratic “Blue States” often follow its actions. Virginia, a “Blue”-leaning State since Obama’s first election in 2008, did just that on April 21, 2026. On that “Election” Tuesday, Old Dominion Democrats voted in a referendum to similarly approve a mid-decade redistricting plan that, like CA’s,would bypass a redistricting commission. VA’s Democratically-led General Assembly would draw those new districts. Currently, VA has only a 6-5 Democratic v. Republican congressional delegation. Under this new plan, the Old Dominion could boost “Team Blue’s” chances of winning 4 additional U.S. House seats that would certainly help decide control of the presently narrowly divided House.https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/4/21/800025186/stateandlocal/virginia-voters-approve-redistricting-plan-that-could-boost-democratic-seats-in-c…

Despite VA’s win to enact this mid-decade redistricting plan, Virginia is not California. Even before the networks quickly called CA Gov. Newsom’s Prop. 50 win, everyone knew that it would pass overwhelmingly which all the polls had been predicting for weeks. CA’s Prop. 50 received at least 65% of the votes against the opposition’s anemic 35.6%, or a hefty margin of 28.8%, 3, 336, 341 votes. https://apps.npr.org/2025/-election-results/california.html?section=I

In VA, the “Yes” vote for the new four seat Democratic House seat map passed by a mere 2% margin, 51% to the “No” 49% vote, and by a paltry 73, 719 vote count. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/04/21/us/virginia-redistricting-election

Yes, VA and CA have very different histories. VA was, of course, one of the original 13 colonies, a slave state that seceded during the Civil War, and one that legally practiced Jim Crow segregation against its Black citizens for years until the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. CA had a much more multi-cultural background from the start with immigrants from all over the world coming to it as early as the 1848 Gold Rush and still arriving today. VA, however, is now getting people from all over the world as well, especially in its northern area near D.C (“No Va”). VA now includes strong communities in the Arlington, Fairfax, and Prince William area of Vietnamese, Thais, Afghans, Mexicans, Koreans, and Salvadorans. IMHO,these latest Americans, who clearly appreciate our democratic system and often came here to flee repressive regimes, were some of the key backers of increasing congressional representation for their state. https://thealmanacofamericanpolitics.com,2026, National Journal, 2024, pp 1802,1832-1835

The passage of this mid-decade redistricting amendment is seen as a defeat for Demagogue/Dictator Donald who called on his MAGA base to vote against it. This amendment will respond or push back against Donald’s attempts to get more GOPers in Congress that Donald feels he is “entitled to,” according to VA’s Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger who backed this amendment. VA House Speaker Don Scott (D-Portsmouth) said that this VA vote rejected efforts to “rig our democracy” with gerrymandering and “fairness and accountability won. The outcome showed that the people will decide and that this vote could shape the 2026 midterms.” Heather Williams, president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, said the vote delivered “a massive blow to the GOP to rig control of Congress.”https://virginiamercury.com/2026/04/21/virginia-voters-back-redistricting-amendments-after-months-of-legal-and-polticial-battles/ Exactly.

Virginia, the Old Dominion, was a leader in the fight for our independence in the Revolutionary War. Today, with this redistricting victory, it continues to lead the fight for our democracy in the 21st Century. Once again, congratulations VA Democrats for standing up for America!



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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/4/22/800025587/community/virginia-passes-new-map-to-add-more-democratic-congress-members/

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