The Virginia Supreme Court has invalidated a Democratic-led congressional redistricting measure that would have transformed the state’s legislative delegation into an overwhelming 10-1 Democratic majority. The ruling, issued May 8, 2026, nullifies the map amendment approved by voters in a special election last month—the only such measure to pass the threshold for constitutional revision since the 2020s.
The court determined that the state’s Democratic-controlled legislature violated procedural requirements when it placed the redistricting amendment on the ballot. In its opinion authored by Justice D. Arthur Kelsey, the majority stated the violation “irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void.” The decision split 4-3, with Chief Justice Cleo Elaine Powell dissenting in a separate ruling.
Powell argued the majority had improperly expanded the constitutional definition of an “election” to include early voting periods, contradicting both state and federal law. She wrote: “I respectfully disagree with the majority’s conclusion that the General Assembly did not strictly comply with Virginia’s constitutional requirements.”
The ruling reverses a proposed shift from Virginia’s current 6 Democratic-to-5 Republican congressional delegation to an almost exclusively Democratic representation. Senate Republican Leader Ryan T. McDougle hailed the decision as a “constitutional win” for the rule of law, while Governor Gavin Newsom described the court’s action as a reaction to “red states maxing out redistricting.”