✪ Circuit Judge Blocks Dem Virginia Redistricting Referendum: ‘A High Likelihood Of Success’ To Overturn

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azewell County Judge Jack Hurley Jr. ruled the redistricting referendum was likely unconstitutional as it violated procedural requirements in the Virginia Constitution, including the timing of the vote and the failure to publish the amendment three months before the prior general election.

The Tazewell Circuit Court also ruled the ballot language was misleading, specifically the phrase “restore fairness,” which Hurley determined could improperly influence voters by implying opposition is unfair.

The constitutional amendment was framed on the ballot as a vote “to restore fairness in the upcoming elections.”  It narrowly passed Tuesday night by a margin of 51.5 percent to 48.5 percent.

In his written ruling, Hurley said the plaintiffs had an “extraordinarily high likelihood of success on the merits.”

Multiple lawsuits challenging the legality of the constitutional amendment have already been brought and oral arguments before the Virginia Supreme Court are tentatively scheduled for Monday.

Carl Cannon, the Washington editor of RealClearPolitics, said the Virginia Redistricting Referendum will eventually be challenged in the US Supreme Court.

“The courts usually give pretty wide leeway on referendum language, but this is so egregious,” Cannon opined Tuesday evening. “It says ‘to restore fairness.‘ This is Orwellian language intended to deceive voters.”

Democrats such as Governor Abigail Spanberger, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and former President Barack Obama supported the “Yes” campaign, framing it as a defense of fair elections.

Spanberger, who told voters last year she had no plans to redistrict the state, said: “Virginia voters have spoken, and tonight they pushed back against a President who claims he is ‘entitled’ to more Republican seats in Congress.”

The governor continued: “As we watched other states go along with those demands without voter input, Virginians refused to let that stand. We responded the right way: at the ballot box.”

Virginia Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D) said that “fairness won. Accountability won. And the Commonwealth that gave America its Constitution has once again reminded the nation what that Constitution is for.”

Obama, who strenuously called for an end to redistricting ten years ago,  congratulated Virginia on X and thanked voters “for showing us what it looks like to stand up for our democracy and fight back.”

Jeffries (D-N.Y.) posted on X that “House Democrats have crushed Donald Trump’s national gerrymandering scheme,” adding, “Maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time.”

Former Vice President Kamala Harris said that Virginians have sent President Trump and the Republican Party a “clear message.”

“Donald Trump and Republicans have tried to rig the 2026 midterms,” Harris wrote in a post on X. “Today in Virginia, voters sent them a clear message: The power is with the people,” she added.

The contested measure would allow Democrats to re-draw the state’s congressional maps from a 6-to-5 advantage to 10-to-1 majority, disenfranchising potentially millions of Republican voters ahead of the 2026 midterms.

The temporary restraining order was requested by the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee, and U.S. Reps. Ben Cline (R-Botetourt County) and Morgan Griffith (R-Salem).

In the emergency motion, the plaintiffs asked the court to issue a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against Virginia’s commissioner of elections, members of the State Board of Elections and several Tazewell County election officials. They contend the court should intervene immediately to “preserve the status quo” and prevent what they describe as “irreparable harm” before a hearing can be held.

Cline stated:

“The Democrats’ unfair redistricting scheme is illegal. We are grateful that the court has agreed and swiftly applied justice to stop this unconstitutional power grab that would disenfranchise millions of Virginia voters by reassigning them members of Congress from other parts of the state. This ruling is an important victory in our fight to make sure that politicians don’t get to select their own voters.”

Hurley’s ruling declares that any and all votes for or against the proposed constitutional amendment in the April 21, 2026 special election are ineffective and enjoins Defendants and their successors from certifying the results of the election.

Additional legal challenges argue the amendment violates the single-subject rule and was improperly advanced during a special legislative session. Although the Virginia Supreme Court allowed the referendum to proceed while reviewing the case, if it upholds the lower court’s findings, the referendum results could be invalidated.

Virginia’s Republican-hating Attorney General Jay Jones (D) has already vowed to appeal the ruling.

“My office will immediately appeal the ruling issued by the Tazewell County Circuit Court,” Jones said. “These arguments are already before the Supreme Court of Virginia, the proper forum to consider the arguments, which has set a schedule for receiving arguments and has justifiably allowed the vote to proceed during this time.”

Virginia Senate Minority Leader Ryan McDougle (R-Hanover) and House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore (R-Scott) issued a joint statement saying the ruling was “a necessary step to protect Virginia voters from an illegal and rushed” redistricting referendum.

“The Constitution sets clear rules for how amendments must be advanced. Those rules were not properly followed. Plain and simple. Virginians deserve transparency, fairness, and adherence to the law — not backroom deals,” they said.

Republicans say Virginia’s redistricting is different from other efforts like in Texas, because Democrats are amending the state’s constitution.

Former Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), who previously said the new map was “the result of a process that’s unconstitutional and illegal,” said in a statement on X, “Thank you to all the voters who turned out to vote against this egregious power grab. The race was much closer than the left expected because Virginians know a 10-1 map is not Virginia.”

“I urge the Virginia Supreme Court to rule against this unconstitutional process that will disenfranchise millions of Virginians,”  Youngkin added.

He said four Virginia constitutional challenges are “teed up,” with three challenges to the amendment process itself:

A. First passage was invalid. The amendment was taken up during a special session convened in 2024 for budget purposes. The General Assembly’s own call to the Governor (under Art. IV, §6 and Art. V, §5) and its governing resolution (HJR 6001) limited the session’s scope. Expanding it to include a constitutional amendment on redistricting required a two-thirds vote that never occurred. A Tazewell County judge found this action “void, ab initio.”
B. Art. XII, §1 requires that after first passage, a proposed amendment be “referred to the General Assembly at its first regular session held after the next general election of members of the House of Delegates.” An election must intervene between first and second passage. Here, first passage occurred during an election cycle — not before an intervening one.
C. Art. XII, §1 requires the amendment be submitted to voters “not sooner than ninety days after final passage by the General Assembly.” The timeline from second passage to the April 21 vote did not satisfy this requirement. Plus ONE challenge to the proposed maps:
D. Art. II, §6 requires that “every electoral district shall be composed of contiguous and compact territory.” The proposed congressional maps violate this contiguity requirement (rather badly).

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Former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli predicted on the Scott Jennings Show, Wednesday that the Virginia redistricting measure won’t survive the legal challenges.

Cuccinelli said, “Here’s my prediction, the referendum gets tossed out in May.” ✪