Court Rules in Critical Virginia Redistricting Fight

REUTERS—The Virginia Supreme Court said on Friday it would allow a Democrat-backed redistricting effort to head to a voter referendum in April.

The decision potentially paves the way for the party to flip as many as four Republican seats in the U.S. House of Representatives this fall.

A state judge last month blocked the Democrats’ redistricting effort, ruling that lawmakers had used an invalid process to advance it.

In agreeing to hear Democrats’ appeal of that ruling on Friday, the high court also said an April 21 special election could move ahead in the meantime.

While the court could still rule against the redistricting plan in the future, the decision to let the referendum proceed was a victory for Democrats, who have proposed a new House map that would give them the advantage in 10 of the state’s 11 districts. Currently, Democrats control six seats.

The battle in Virginia is part of a broader nationwide redistricting war that was triggered last summer, when President Donald Trump successfully urged his fellow Republicans in Texas to approve a new map targeting five Democrat seats.

Since then, both Democrat and Republican states have advanced new maps, with neither party emerging as a clear winner just yet.

Redistricting typically occurs only at the start of each decade after the U.S. census is completed.

Democrats have to flip only three Republican-held seats in November’s midterm elections to win a House majority.

Virginia’s Constitution gives an independent commission the authority to draw congressional lines, forcing Democrat lawmakers to undertake a multistep process to approve a constitutional amendment and seek voter approval before they can install a new map.