The Virginia Court of Appeals requested in a filing Wednesday that the Supreme Court of Virginia take up a legal challenge to Democrats’ efforts to draw new congressional districts. It’s the latest event in an increasingly-threatened effort to counter Republican President Donald Trump’s push to tilt the 2026 midterms towards the GOP.
“The Court of Appeals submits that these appeals present questions of such imperative public importance as to justify the deviation from normal appellate practice and to require prompt decision in the Supreme Court,” the court wrote.
The redistricting case is on a tight timeline: The General Assembly passed legislation setting a referendum date for April 21. That would require Virginia’s 45-day early voting period to begin in a month, the same amount of time it takes election officials to print ballots.
The case on appeal was originally brought by Republican legislative leadership and members of the independent Virginia Redistricting Commission, which currently has the authority to draw political boundaries after a decennial census. A proposed constitutional amendment would give the General Assembly the power to bypass that system and redraw maps off-cycle in response to gerrymandering efforts in GOP-led states like Texas and Florida.
Tazewell County Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley said that since the amendment was not posted at the county courthouse 90 days before an election, as required by the Code of Virginia, his ruling “PROHIBITS the proposed amendment from being submitted to the voters for their consideration.”
In an appeal, lawyers for the Democrats said that Hurley was interfering with the legislative process and a pause of his ruling “is urgently needed to restore the constitutional separation of powers.”
On Tuesday, Attorney General Jay Jones moved to intervene in the case, saying that the Republicans’ lawsuit implicated “the legitimacy of the constitutional amendment and redistricting processes, thereby triggering the Commonwealth’s sovereign interests.”
The redistricting effort is also held up in both the legislative and executive branches.
Democrats have yet to present maps, even though they told reporters that the public could expect to see maps by Jan. 30. It appears that the House of Delegates and state Senate are in disagreement over the exact borders of the new districts.
“We have a 10-1 map that has secured the 21 votes needed to pass in the Senate. Other proposals do not have the votes to pass,” Senate President Pro Tempore Louise Lucas (D–Portsmouth) posted on social media Tuesday, as news reports circulated that the chambers were in disagreement. “We have waited to release these maps in order to allow time for feedback- not time for games.”
Former Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares, co‑chair of Virginians for Fair Maps, which opposes redistricting, issued a statement Wednesday saying that “fair maps” need to be maintained.
“If it wasn’t clear before, it is now,” said Miyares. “The democrats only priority is drawing maps for their preferred politicians – not the people of Virginia.”
Gov. Abigail Spanberger, another Democrat, has yet to sign the legislation to set the referendum. Her deadline to act is 11:59 p.m. on Feb. 11; if she does not take action by then, it becomes law as passed.
Copyright 2026 VPM
