Dems Have A Voter Problem. Gerrymandering Was Never Going To Fix It

Authored by Ryan Young via RealClearPolitics,

In November 2024, 47% of Virginia voters cast ballots for Republican congressional candidates. Under the map Virginia Democrats tried to push through, those voters would have ended up with exactly one Republican district out of 11. Going from a 6-5 to a 10-1 split was what Democrats called "restoring fairness."

To get it done, Democrats bypassed a bipartisan redistricting commission that Virginia voters had specifically created in 2020 to end partisan map-drawing. They drafted the new map behind closed doors. They passed a constitutional amendment on Oct. 31, 2025, even though early voting for the general election had been underway since Sept. 19 - violating the state constitution's requirement that an intervening election occur between the two legislative votes. They missed the requirement that amendments be posted publicly 90 days before a vote. And they put a ballot question before voters asking whether they wanted to "restore fairness" - language a circuit court judge called "flagrantly misleading."

Every step of this process required ignoring a rule or deceiving a voter.

That is not a party making a policy argument. That is a party that has decided winning at any cost is more important than following the rules.

When the Virginia Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that the effort was unconstitutional, Democrats did not stop and reflect. Instead, they doubled down. Rather than accept the Virginia Supreme Court's decision, House Speaker Don Scott and Attorney General Jay Jones filed an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, riddled with spelling errors and mistakes. U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the ruling "unprecedented and undemocratic." U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said four unelected judges had "cast aside the will of the voters." Most revealingly, the New York Times reported that, on a call with Jeffries, Virginia Democratic members of Congress discussed lowering the mandatory retirement age for Virginia Supreme Court justices from 73 to 54 - the exact age of the youngest justice in the majority. This would force the entire court to retire and create an opportunity to replace them with justices who would reinstate the map. Today's Democratic politicians are showing their true colors: These are radicals in moderates' clothing. Republicans should respond accordingly.

Republicans should not mistake what happened in Virginia for a one-off procedural accident. Democrats' willingness to bypass a voter-approved bipartisan commission, ignore constitutional rules, mislead voters on the ballot, and then float court-packing to overcome their illegality is a window into how the modern Democratic Party operates.

But Democrats' bizarre map was never going to solve their underlying problem.

People are voting with their feet by moving to well-run red states. The 2030 census is projected to shift eight to 10 electoral votes from blue states to red ones - a 16- to 20-point shift that will dramatically tighten the path to the White House for a Democrat candidate.

If Democrats want to compete in the years ahead, they will need to move to the middle to meet voters where they are. Instead of seeking to rig the game, Democrats should persuade voters on the issues the voters actually care about. They should support mainstream, commonsense ideas that they have too long resisted. School choice polls at roughly 74% nationally. Voter ID polls at 84%. Cracking down on welfare fraud polls at 71%, including 62% of Democrats. These are easy wins just waiting for politicians of both parties. It doesn't take a political genius to realize that Democrats should stop their sprint to the left and side with the majority of voters instead.

Virginia's brief attempt at gerrymandering was a disgrace and a national embarrassment. Democrats' unhinged reaction to its defeat was even worse. But the aftermath should be a moment of reflection and readjustment for both parties. Voters are looking for leaders who listen to their concerns, make government work for them, and improve their lives. Democrats should seek to win, fair and square, by pursuing commonsense policies the people want. This is how our system is supposed to work. Otherwise, Democrats - and voters - will continue to see red.

Ryan Young is the Legal Fellow at the Foundation for Government Accountability.