US Politics
‘Maximum warfare’: Donald Trump lost the redistricting battle in Virginia. Democrats are set to fight for this red state next
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
Read more
On Tuesday evening, Democrats earned a key win when Virginians narrowly voted to allow a mid-cycle redistricting effort. This will allow Democrats to redraw the congressional maps to create 10 districts favorable to Democrats and one favorable to Republicans, compared to the current 6-5 split.
This is the second time voters have decided to allow a one-time redraw of a congressional map typically decided by a nonpartisan board.
The decision in Virginia was a narrow one, passing by a little less than three points, much narrower than the almost 30-point victory for Proposition 50 in California and far lower than Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s 15-point margin in November. Despite its blue tint, Virginia maintains a moderate bend.
Nevertheless, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries spiked the football.
“We won Prop 50 in California, reclaimed a seat in Utah, pushed back extremists in Ohio and halted toxic GOP efforts in Indiana, New Hampshire, Nebraska and Kansas,” Jeffries said.
But he also issued a warning shot — right in Trump’s backyard.
“If Florida Republicans proceed with this illegal scheme, they will only create more prime pick-up opportunities for Democrats, just as they did with Trump’s dummymander in Texas,” Jeffries posted, and warned: “We will aggressively target for defeat Mario Díaz-Balart, Maria Elvira Salazar, Carlos Giménez, Kat Cammack, Anna Paulina Luna, Laurel Lee, Cory Mills and Brian Mast. We are prepared to take them all on, and we are prepared to win.
“Maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time.”
So how did we get here? Well, last year, California passed Proposition 50 to do the same, after President Donald Trump pressured Texas, Missouri and North Carolina to redraw their congressional maps. Trump did so in hopes of keeping the House of Representatives under Republican control after the midterm elections this November.
That led California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a likely candidate for president, to say Democrats would “meet fire with fire” with redistricting and promote his ballot initiative to allow for five new Democratic-leaning seats.
The Virginia decision Tuesday reveals that Trump’s attempts to insulate himself from the typical cycles where the opposite party takes over the House of Representatives in a midterm backfired tremendously. Democrats for years have adopted nonpartisan redistricting boards in an attempt to end gerrymandering. But Trump poking the bear can make even mild-mannered states push back.
Unsurprisingly, Trump groused about the result and claimed it was not legitimate.
“A RIGGED ELECTION TOOK PLACE LAST NIGHT IN THE GREAT COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA!” he yelled Wednesday afternoon with no evidence to support the claim.
“I’m looking forward to running in the 10th district, but people are fed up with this administration,” Rep. Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia told The Independent.
“And especially in Virginia, Trump is historically unpopular there, and I think the vote reflected that just as much as it did the desire to even the playing field.”
In Florida, meanwhile, Gov. Ron DeSantis has called for a special session to redraw its congressional map, sparking the Jeffries threat that Florida is next in his sights.
On one end, this should be easy pickings for Republicans: as the home to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, Florida has undergone its own facelift from a perpetual swing state to MAGA-ritaville. It’s the home not only to DeSantis, but Marco Rubio, Pam Bondi and others.
Still, Republicans need to be careful. If they dilute the districts too much to make new Republican seats, they risk making some safer seats more competitive, and therefore, likely to flip.
Jeffries, like his Senate counterpart Chuck Schumer, has received criticism for being too timid in his opposition to Republicans, too close to Wall Street and the pro-Israel lobby. Some progressives criticized him for waiting until the last minute to endorse Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York City.
But he received praise from his progressive peers for the comments.
“Hell yes,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the Squad, said on social media. “This is the energy.”
For Republicans from the Miami had one response: do it.
“Welcome to the American political system,” Salazar told The Independent. “I have no power. I cannot even know anything about it. So, hey, that’s the way the system works. We just go along with the system.”
Salazar has been warning her Republican colleagues for some time that Trump’s mass deportation initiatives risk costing the GOP the Hispanic gains that Trump made in 2024.
Trump’s approval among even the historically conservative Cuban-American population of Miami has taken a dip in recent months.
Giménez took the same approach.
“We’re a democracy,” he said. “Bring it on.”