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Isle of Wight’s congressional district would lean Democratic under 10-1 redistricting map
Amid a legal challenge to Virginia’s mid-decade redistricting plan, the General Assembly released a draft map on Feb. 5 that would redraw Virginia’s 11 congressional districts ahead of the 2026 midterm elections to favor Democrats in 10 districts, including the two that encompass Isle of Wight and Surry counties.
Gov. Spanberger signs bill to enable redistricting referendum
Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed enabling legislation to set the dates for referendums on four congressional amendments on Friday, including the mid-decade redistricting effort. Democratic leadership in the General Assembly unveiled the long-awaited redrawn congressional maps on Thursday. The proposed map shows 10 Democratic-leaning districts and one district that remains a Republican stronghold. Spanberger will also need to sign or line-item veto the enabling legislation for the redistricting effort, which lives in the caboose budget bill, HB 29. That bill would appropriate about $5 million to administer the redistricting referendum and to solidify the new map.
Proposed redistricting map splits Fairfax County into five congressional districts
Virginia Democrats released their long-awaited redistricting proposal yesterday (Thursday) in a bid to expand the party’s presence in Congress while countering similar gerrymandering attempts by Republicans. Party leaders rolled out a map that’s projected to give Democrats an advantage in 10 of Virginia’s 11 Congressional districts, and as expected, much of that comes at the expense of Northern Virginia — the bluest part of the state. Fairfax County alone, which is currently covered by the 8th, 10th and 11th Congressional districts, would be split into five new districts under the proposed map. Most of them would spread far out west, with one reaching as far as Shenandoah County.
Proposed congressional maps in Virginia would split Arlington in two
Newly proposed maps would split Arlington into two congressional districts as part of a statewide overhaul heavily favoring Virginia Democrats. The proposal would keep a southern portion of Arlington in the 8th Congressional District, which currently encompasses all of the county and is represented by Rep. Don Beyer (D). This would extend as far south as York County in the Tidewater region. The rest of Arlington County would be in the 7th Congressional District, currently represented by Rep. Eugene Vindman (D), which is proposed to run west to Augusta County in the Blue Ridge Mountains and south to Powhatan County west of Richmond.
Democrats’ redistricting plan would split Richmond across two congressional districts
The city of Richmond would be split across two congressional districts under the mid-decade redistricting plan Virginia Democrats want voters to approve in a ballot referendum planned for April 21. Democratic leaders are trying to temporarily suspend Virginia’s bipartisan redistricting process in order to gain more seats in Congress, an action they argue is necessary to balance out gerrymandering being done in Republican-led states at the urging of President Donald Trump.
New Virginia map splits Richmond, weakens GOP districts
After weeks of waiting, Virginia Democrats released a congressional map proposal that could deliver them all but one of the state's 11 House districts in this year's midterms. They're using metro Richmond and Northern Virginia to do it. Under the existing maps, the Richmond area is almost entirely represented by two congressional districts — the 1st and 4th — while some parts of Hanover and Goochland are in the 5th. The new maps split metro Richmond into four blue-leaning districts (1st, 4th, 5th and 7th) and pair some of the more traditionally Republican parts of the city's suburbs with deep-blue parts of Northern Virginia
A 10-1 map turns Va. politics upside down — if voters agree
The caboose is driving the train in Virginia politics, as Democrats this week unveiled a proposed political map that seeks to give them a political advantage in 10 of the state's 11 congressional districts by cutting Northern Virginia into five slices to bolster their chances across the commonwealth. The proposed map, attached to the so-called "caboose bill" for the current state budget, would send two of those tendrils from the Northern Virginia suburbs into the Richmond area to include Hanover and Goochland counties, respectively. Parts of Richmond and the surrounding region also would become part of the reconfigured 5th District in the Piedmont and a 4th District expanded to include more of Southside Virginia.
Most of Virginia restricts solar farms. Lawmakers want to change that.
As large solar fields proliferate across America, pushback to them in rural communities is growing, fueled by a mix of disinformation and genuine concern about losing open land to development. The tension is perhaps nowhere more evident than in Virginia, which has ambitious clean energy goals but is also the land of Thomas Jefferson — where many residents take pride in their rolling hills, winding rivers, and agrarian roots. Today, nearly two-thirds of Virginia’s counties effectively prohibit utility-scale solar, according to the renewables industry. But legislation rocketing through the state’s Democratic-controlled General Assembly would help change that, preventing outright bans while still allowing localities to reject large-scale solar projects on an individual basis.
Toll Bill Moves to Full House
A bill by Del. David Reid (D-28) to extend the time between requests for toll rate increases has cleared committee review and moved to consideration by the full House. Currently, the State Corporation Commission may approve toll rate increases every year under the Virginia Highway Corporation Act, which regulates the Dulles Greenway operations. “The annual process oftentimes has resulted in the fact that we don’t get a finding from the SCC before it’s time to actually start the next rate review process. So, the annual review process is really too frequent,” Reid said.
Sturtevant: Bill bolstering doctor oversight in Virginia nursing homes ‘watered down’
Sen. Glen Sturtevant (R-Chesterfield) said legislation attempting to strengthen physician oversight in nursing homes was “watered down” from its original version before it passed through a Senate subcommittee Friday morning. "There have been a lot of efforts to reform the nursing home system in the General Assembly. They oftentimes meet a lot of hurdles as a result of the industry and the lobby community who push back very hard and who have a lot of influence down here at the General Assembly,” Sturtevant said.