Virginia Democrats Pass Major Amendment Amid GOP Gerrymandering Wars

Virginia’s Democratic-controlled legislature just got one step closer to victory in the battle against Donald Trump’s gerrymandering scheme.

The commonwealth’s Senate passed an amendment Friday that would allow the state to redraw its congressional map before the upcoming midterm elections, potentially netting Democrats, who already control six of the state’s 11 districts, an additional three or four seats.

The measure, which will amend Virginia’s Constitution to allow lawmakers to redraw the state’s congressional map if another state does the same outside of the typical decennial cycle, can now be slated to appear on a special election ballot sometime before April 16. If voters pass the amendment, that gives Democrats a major step up come November.

Earlier this month, Trump told Republican lawmakers that he needed the party to maintain control of the House and Senate in order to avoid being impeached.

Unfortunately for him, this seems increasingly unavoidable, as in a typical midterm cycle, the presidential party pretty consistently loses ground. Those basic odds, coupled with Trump’s dismal approval rating and Democratic candidates’ growing momentum is a particularly bad sign for the president, who has started babbling about potentially cancelling the midterm elections altogether.

So far, five red states have redrawn their congressional maps at the behest of Trump in order to hand a potential nine seats to the Republican Party: Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and Utah. California also revamped its district lines to hand five seats back to the Democrats.