by Scott Dreyer

Virginia Democrats released on February 5 their new proposed maps for carving up the Old Dominion in 11 new Congressional Districts. According to the US Constitution House seats are allocated by population. Since Virginia has a little over 8 million people, we have eleven members in the House of Representatives.

Six of the 11 seats are currently held by Democrats, and five by Republicans. This is seen as reasonable by many, since Old Dominion has a large “purple state” population. Just one month earlier, for example, all three state offices were held Republican. Trump lost Virginia 2024 but still won 46.6% votes to Harris’s 51.8%.

The Democrats’ new map could give them a 10 to 1 advantage over Virginia in terms of Congressional seats. The majority of GOP voters from the western third were grouped into the oddly shaped, solidly Republican 9th District. Most of the other ten district were heavily gerrymandered in order to overpower GOP voters.

After the last census, states usually draw new congressional district lines every ten to fifteen years.

The Texas legislature has drawn new lines in favor of Republicans this year. Virginia Democrats believe they have to “fight fire by fire” in order to counter any gains made by Republicans in Texas.

The President has repeatedly called for states with GOP-controlled legislatures to redraw the Congressional map ahead of this year’s crucial midterm election.

As some have noted, the majority of conflicts are caused by differences in opinion about the “starting point” that should be used to determine the source of tension.

As an example, Democrats use the Texas gerrymandering of last year as their starting point. It’s fair, they say, to have more Democrat safe seats in the state to counterbalance what Republicans did in Texas, Florida and North Carolina.

Republicans, on the other hand, counter that gerrymandering has been a long-standing practice in blue states, and Texas was merely attempting to balance those abuses.

Twitter user Zachary Werrell, Esq. This explanation of gerrymandering is based on California’s 52 seats in the House of Representatives.

“Democrats in California received 58% of the votes, but their congressional map was 43:9 or 83% Democrats. The new California maps are 48:4, which is 93% Democrats.

“Illinois had 55% democrats but their districts have a 14:3 democrats ratio, or 83%.

Texas, however, was 66% Republican, with a vote of 56% for Trump but a 25:13 ratio for their congressional seats. The redistricting has made it 30:8, which is 79% republican.

“Democrats have taken a Virginia state that went 51-48 percent for Kamala and redrawn it a 6-5 (or 55%) and made it a 10-1 (91% for Democrats).

No one who is honest and logical can honestly say that the republicans have done wrong in this case. “As always, with Democrats, every accusation is a confession.”

Democrats have released their maps, and they are now moving to implement new lines despite a Tazewell County judge who recently ruled that the rushed and partisan process was illegal.

About two-thirds (about 67%) of Virginia voters approved an amendment to the state Constitution that would ban political gerrymandering, and have instead new lines drawn up by nonpartisan officials. Many Virginians view the new map as unconstitutional, and that it also denies their right to vote.

If approved, the new map would have a major impact on our area. By removing Blacksburg and Virginia Tech, the current GOP-friendly 9th District that covers Southwest Virginia and extends up to Smith Mountain Lake and is represented by Rep. Morgan Griffith would become more Republican. By consolidating more Republicans in the 9th district, their influence will be diluted elsewhere.

The 6th District would shift to a Democrat-leaning district, whereas the currently solidly Republican 6th District represented by Rep. Ben Cline, R-Botetourt, is now. The new 6th District would have thin gerrymandered boundaries that combined the Democrat-heavy areas Virginia Tech, Roanoke, UVA and JMU.

As some have noted, Tech/Roanoke Democrats might not be able to cheer for very long. The reason is that the Democrat population in Charlottesville is larger than the one here. Therefore, a new Democrat congressman for a 6th district would likely be from the UVA region, which is two hours away. This makes the Roanoke Valley and New River Valleys less important politically.

Five districts, almost half the total number of districts in Virginia, would include a tiny sliver within Fairfax County, a heavily Democratic county with densely populated areas. These five new districts will then be spread out across the state from the Peninsula near Williamsburg in the east, to Augusta County in the west (see district 7).

Fairfax County Democrats are expected to hold the five Congressional seats due to its large population. The geographically vast but sparsely populated parts of these districts will be largely powerless and consistently outvoted.

It is expected that the two Congressmen from Richmond will represent districts in Southside, which includes Danville, Appomattox, and Appomattox county.

These new lines, while not perfect, violate both the law and common sense that states that districts should be as compact as possible geographically and include “communities” of interest.

Democrats campaigned on “affordability and “moderation”, but now they are pushing for the most partisan redistricting in any state.

Virginia Supreme Court will be hearing the constitutionality of these new lines in the near future. However, since the referendum is set for April and we have 45 days to vote early, this timeline is extremely compressed.

Voting YES on the referendum in April means that you approve of the new lines. Voting NO is voting against them.

Roanoke resident Scott Dreyer is the leader of a team that teaches English and ESL around the world. Republished by The Roanoke Star.