Judge finds Virginia Democrats' redistricting resolution illegal; new
Maryland map advances
[January 28, 2026]
By OLIVIA DIAZ and BRIAN WITTE
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Democrats ran into a setback on Tuesday in Virginia
to fight back against President Donald Trump's congressional
redistricting efforts, but they took a step forward in Maryland, though
obstacles remain for enacting a new congressional map there.
A Virginia judge ruled that a proposed constitutional amendment letting
Democrats redraw the state’s Congressional maps was illegal, setting
back the party’s efforts to pick up seats in the U.S. House in November.
In Maryland, a state House committee advanced a new map that could
enable Democrats to defeat the state’s only House Republican, after Gov.
Wes Moore, a Democrat, urged them in person to do so.
The latest developments are part of a national battle over unusual
mid-decade redistricting attempts, launched last summer by Trump who
urged Republican officials in Texas to redraw maps to help the GOP win
more seats. He did so in hopes of holding on to a narrow House majority
in the face of political headwinds that typically favor the party out of
power in midterms.
Tazewell Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley Jr. struck down the Virginia
legislature’s actions on three grounds, including finding that lawmakers
failed to follow their own rules for adding the redistricting amendment
to a special session.
His order also said Democrats failed to approve the amendment before the
public began voting in last year’s general election and failed to
publish the amendment three months before the election, as required by
law. As a result, he said, the amendment was invalid and void.
Plans for appeal
Virginia House Speaker Don Scott, who was listed in Republicans' lawsuit
over the resolution, said Democrats would appeal the ruling.
“Nothing that happened today will dissuade us from continuing to move
forward and put this matter directly to the voters,” Scott said in a
joint statement with other Democratic leaders.
Virginians for Fair Elections, a campaign that supports the
redistricting resolution, accused conservatives of filing their lawsuit
in a known GOP-friendly jurisdiction, saying, “Republicans court-shopped
for a ruling because litigation and misinformation are the only tools
they have left.”
Hurley’s ruling came after lawmakers said they would unveil their
proposed new districts to voters by the end of this week.
The state is currently represented in the House by six Democrats and
five Republicans from districts whose boundaries were imposed by a court
after a bipartisan redistricting commission failed to agree on a map
after the 2020 census.
Because the commission was established by a voter-approved
constitutional amendment, lawmakers have to revise the constitution in
order to be able to redraw maps this year. That requires the pass a
resolution in two separate legislative sessions, with a state election
sandwiched in between.
Virginians would have to vote in favor in a referendum.
Maryland
Moore, a Democrat who is the nation's only serving Black governor, said
the state needed to act to counter what he called “political redlining”
by Trump in other states at the cost of Black representation in
Congress.
He compared Trump’s push for GOP-friendly redistricting to
discriminatory housing practices, saying the president and his allies
“are doing everything in their power to silence the voices and trying to
eliminate Black leadership — elected leadership — all over this
country.”
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Republican gubernatorial candidate and Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears
resides over the Virginia Senate during a special legislative
session in Richmond, Va., Oct. 29, 2025. (Mike Kropf/Richmond
Times-Dispatch via AP, File)
“So no, I will not sit quiet,” Moore testified. “And the audacity of
those who are telling me to do so shows that they have no
understanding of the journey of so many who came before us.”
Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-1 in Maryland and already hold a
7-1 advantage in the state’s U.S. House delegation, with Rep. Andy
Harris the lone GOP representative.
Moore's push for mid-decade redistricting has run into opposition by
a key fellow Democrat: state Senate President Bill Ferguson, of
Baltimore, who says it could backfire and potentially cost a
Democratic seat.
Ferguson pointed out that a map adopted in 2021 that would have made
it easier to flip Harris' seat was ruled unconstitutional by a judge
who called it “a product of extreme partisan gerrymandering.”
Maryland passed another map in 2022, and a legal fight was dropped.
Redrawing districts again could prompt a new legal challenge and
lead a court to impose districts, Ferguson contends.
On Tuesday he told reporters that his position has not changed and a
majority of Democratic state senators also oppose redistricting now.
“I understand that people have differences of opinion, but I don’t
see that shifting here,” Ferguson said.
A Maryland House committee advanced legislation containing the map
to the House, after several hours of testimony from residents.
Julie Quick, who lives on Maryland’s Eastern Shore in Harris’
district, testified that the map “takes a sledgehammer to rural
voting rights.”
Ben Vaughan, who testified in favor of the map, told lawmakers “our
democracy is a house on fire,” and the state needs to “turn on the
fire hoses.”
Other states
At the national level, the redistricting battle has resulted so far
in nine more seats that Republicans believe they can win in Texas,
Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio, and six that Democrats think they
can win in California and Utah. Democrats hope to fully or partially
make up that three-seat margin in Virginia.
As in Virginia, redistricting is still being litigated in several
states, and there is no guarantee that the parties will win the
seats they have redrawn.
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis plans to call a special session
on redistricting in April.
___
Witte reported from Annapolis, Maryland. Associated Press writer
David A. Lieb in Jefferson City, Missouri, contributed. Olivia Diaz
is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America
Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit
national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms
to report on undercovered issues.
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