Spanberger faces ‘bait-and-switch’ backlash in final hours before redistricting referendum
Opponents of Virginia Democrats’ redistricting referendum are accusing Gov. Abigail Spanberger of a "bait and switch," pointing to her campaign-trail pledge of "no plans" to redraw the state's congressional map ahead of Tuesday’s vote.
Former Virginia Govs. George Allen and Glenn Youngkin, along with a slew of top conservatives, have opposed the effort, which would redraw the commonwealth’s 6-5 Democratic map to a 10-1 map crafted by Senate President L. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, and backed by Spanberger.
"Behold the great bait and switch," Del. Michael Webert, R-Fauquier, said, sharing a screenshot of October reporting highlighting Spanberger’s apparent pledge not to support what she now is vocally behind.
"Vote No," said Webert, whose district forms a boundary between the Washington, D.C., suburbs set to accrue political power if the referendum passes and the hundreds of miles of rural expanse south and west that are poised to lose their voice.
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The latter is a major concern for U.S. Rep. Ben Cline, a Botetourt Republican whose district runs from Roanoke to the northernmost West Virginia line at Berryville along the Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah Valley, which Cline said stand to lose their otherwise homogenous voice in Washington.
Cline told Fox News Digital how Spanberger was previously a colleague on the House Agriculture Committee and "loved to talk about her connection to Virginia agriculture."
"My district is currently the most agriculture-based district in Virginia and she has chopped it into five different districts and parceled it out to Northern Virginia Democrats to use to make their numbers work," he said, adding that the referendum is offensive to Virginia farmers in particular.
In separate comments to "Ruthless", Cline expounded on that point, saying the people of his current district stand to lose their voice because they will be split into five "spaghetti strands" originating from Arlington and Fairfax.
"But we're optimistic we're going to be able to stop the governor in her tracks," he said.
"They’ve pulled her ad from even running, yeah, because she's so unpopular," he said.
Spanberger had been featured in a multi-million-dollar advertising campaign encouraging voters to support the redistricting referendum, but the Virginia Scope reported that ad was recently pulled from circulation.
"[The situation] slid south for her and that’s what happens when you play bait-and-switch with the voters," Cline said.
However, the Vote YES campaign denied Cline’s characterization in a statement to Fox News Digital.
"This is false," the campaign said. "We’re running a strong statewide campaign featuring a range of voices — including Governor Spanberger. This election is about stopping Trump’s power grab and leveling the playing field — and that’s exactly what a YES vote does."
In his remarks to "Ruthless," Cline also cited the fact several Fairfax-area Democrats are already launching bids for the yet-unconfirmed "lobster"-shaped redrawn seat that is the most prominent slice of his district.
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"I didn’t think Dan Helmer could find Shenandoah Valley on a map, but yet he’s going to be campaigning and asking for votes [here]," he said of the far-left delegate from Fairfax who helped spearhead the redistricting effort itself.
Helmer, a combat veteran, also crafted the commonwealth’s sweeping gun control bill lambasted as a "gun grab."
"You have a leader in the Virginia House of Delegates, on the Democratic side, who crafts maps for his benefit… They’re enacting laws to help them get elected to Congress, not enacting laws to help Virginians get ahead" Del. Joe McNamara, R-Roanoke, told the Virginia Mercury of Helmer’s position.
When asked about Cline and others criticizing his decision to run in the redistricted district, Helmer told Fox News Digital that as the Virginia House Democrats’ campaign chair, he already succeeded in such rural areas.
"I've campaigned in every corner of this district — from Rockingham to Louisa, Arlington to Powhatan. Because of those efforts, 14 MAGA Republicans [in the state legislature] are now unemployed and doom scrolling LinkedIn instead of harming Virginia families — and this November, we're going to add Ben Cline to that list," Helmer said.
Several other Democrats including former first lady Dorothy McAuliffe and JP Cooney — an ex-aide to Jack Smith — are also running there.
Turning to the new maps, only Rep. Morgan Griffith’s district stands to remain Republican.
House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore, R-Gate City, represents much of that district in Richmond and has joined barnstorming efforts by Youngkin and former Attorney General Jason Miyares across his far southwestern district.
Youngkin’s 2021 victory was pegged in-part to Republicans running up the score in albeit sparsely populated counties like Wise, Scott, Dickenson and Lee, and the same strategy appeared afoot in the closing weeks of early voting.
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In Dickenson County, home to late music legend Ralph Stanley, Kilgore recently joined local leaders to call for a surge to the polls.
"We just want everybody to vote ‘No’," he said, as state Sen. Todd Pillion, R-Bristol, reported 500 people had already early voted in the sparse county that day.
"We can win this," Kilgore said. "We do not want Fairfax County controlling our congressional districts and we want to protect rural Virginia."
At the other end of the commonwealth, where another rural region is set to be sliced up and attached to Fairfax, Rep. Rob Wittman of the Northern Neck echoed concerns similar to Cline’s.
"Governor Spanberger said it clearly: ‘I have no plans to redistrict Virginia’. But now, Richmond politicians are pushing a referendum to do exactly that—redraw congressional maps in the middle of the decade," Wittman said.
"A 10-1 map would erase millions of voices – that's not representation; that's partisan gerrymandering," he said.
Tazewell County Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley — who issued an injunction against the referendum until the state Supreme Court stepped in — also led criticism of the term "restore fairness" being used on the ballot as the official description of what voting yes would do.
Hurley said the language was unconstitutionally misleading and that "[it] would lead a voter to believe he or she were doing something unfair by voting against the proposed amendment."
While the higher court mooted whether the election could move forward, filings from plaintiffs and defendants on the merits of the case are due Thursday – when the bench will ultimately decide whether to undo any prospective passage of the referendum.
Fox News Digital reached out to Spanberger, Helmer and Virginians for Fair Elections for comment.