Virginia’s supreme court on Friday ruled that the state cannot use new congressional maps approved by voters to help Democrats gain as many as four new seats in the US House of Representatives, handing Republicans a major win before November’s midterm elections.
In a 4-3 decision, the court found that the state’s general assembly did not follow the appropriate constitutional procedure in approving the map, which voters then passed in a referendum last month.
The ruling is a setback for Democrats’ efforts nationwide to counter gerrymanders approved by Republican-led states that may oust Democratic House representatives and boost the odds that Donald Trump’s allies retain their majority in Congress’s lower chamber in the November midterm elections.
Texas, North Carolina, and Missouri have enacted new maps that could gerrymander as many as seven Democrats out of their districts, while voters in Democratic-led California have approved a new map that may cost the Republican party as many as five seats.
Republicans cheered the court’s decision, with Trump calling it a “huge win for the Republican Party, and America”.
Context: Virginia’s supreme court ruling on new congressional maps.
Fact Check: The ruling challenges the use of new congressional maps to help Democrats gain seats.
