A Virginia court on Thursday temporarily blocked Democrats from preparing for an April voter referendum to redraw the state’s congressional maps, handing the party another setback in its efforts to pick up four more U.S. House seats in the national redistricting battle.
The Tazewell County Circuit Court granted a temporary restraining order requested by the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee over the ballot referendum’s timing and phrasing.
The motion, also signed by Republican U.S. Reps. Ben Cline and Morgan Griffith, argued that Democrats were ramming redistricting-related bills through the legislature despite legal hurdles that prevent such a rushed process.
It’s the second time Tazewell Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley Jr. has ruled against Democrats’ redistricting agenda. In January, Hurley ruled that a resolution for a constitutional amendment was illegally passed in a special legislative session and taken up too close to an intervening election.
That case has been appealed to the Supreme Court of Virginia, and justices had said they would allow the referendum — scheduled for April 21 — to proceed while they review the appeal.
The court wrote that its order has “no effect on the referendum scheduled for April 21, 2026,” and that it doesn’t “prevent the parties from raising the arguments and issues as this matter goes forward.”
“The fact that they said in their order, which is unusual, that this order, this decision, in no way impacts their ability for us to hold an election, tells you everything you need to know,” Speaker of the House Don Scott (D–Portsmouth) said last week in response to SCOVA’s ruling.
Redistricting in Virginia is typically handled by an independent, bipartisan commission, and done following a decennial census. The proposed constitutional amendment would give the General Assembly the power to bypass the commission and draw new maps mid-decade if other states do the same thing — a response to a gerrymandering campaign in GOP-led states started last year by President Donald Trump.
Trump pushed Republican officials in Texas to redraw districts to help his party win more seats in the 2026 midterms. The goal was for the GOP to hold on to a narrow House majority in the face of political headwinds that typically favor the party out of power in midterms.
Instead, it created a national redistricting battle. So far, Republicans believe they can win nine more seats in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio. Democrats think they can win six more seats in California and Utah, and are hoping to fully or partially make up the remaining three-seat margin in Virginia.
