Virginia Redistricting in Limbo as High Court Hears First Case

The Virginia Supreme Court will hear arguments Monday about the validity of last week’s mid-decade redistricting referendum, starting a sprint to resolve legal questions before delays become an obstacle to an orderly midterm election.

The case is one of three in which a single judge in Tazewell County threw a wrench in Democrats’ attempts to redraw congressional districts, aiming for control of the US House. The new map would add four relatively safe Democratic seats.

Two of Tazewell County Judge Jack Hurley’s interventions are working their way through state appeals courts. A decision backing either would shake up the midterms by keeping Virginia’s current map in place. Even if Democrats eventually prevail in the effort to rejigger congressional districts, a prolonged court fight will affect candidates who are debating where, or whether, they want to seek reelection.

Voters narrowly approved an amendment to the state’s constitution April 21 allowing Democrats to temporarily suspend a bipartisan commission and redraw the congressional lines.

Monday’s appeal, brought by Virginia House Speaker Don Scott (D), is about whether the April 21 special election was legally held.

Latest Challenge

In a separate case brought by the Republican National Committee, Hurley paused the implementation of the new maps April 22, saying, among other things, that the state’s early voting options violated timing restrictions under state law. That order is being challenged in the Court of Appeals for Virginia and will likely wind up before the state Supreme Court later this year.

Virginia Department of Elections Commissioner Steven Koski, who is involved in both cases, challenged Hurley’s most recent action in the Court of Appeals April 22. Some of his arguments in that appeal overlap with previous ones, and he also added that the election will be disrupted if the legal fights aren’t resolved.

“The circuit court’s injunction is not a prospective order awaiting some future event,” Koski wrote. “It is disrupting the Commonwealth’s election operations right now, and every day it remains in force forecloses options the State Election Officials cannot recover later. The harms are not speculative. They are immediate, concrete, and—if the statutory calendar is allowed to run past them—irreparable.”

In the RNC-brought case, Hurley said the referendum was invalid because violated a timing clause in state law. Officials “submitted the proposed amendment to the voters for early voting on March 6, 2026,” sooner than the 90-day wait period after the legislature acted, he said.

Scheduling Questions

If Hurley’s latest order remains in place, it will delay local elections departments from certifying the referendum’s results by April 27 and the state Board of Elections from its certification due May 4. Election results must be certified by state and local boards statewide before the Department of Elections can implement a new map and update voter registration information.

Koski told the court his department wants to have the map and voter files updated by May 28 to be prepared for the statewide primary contests Aug. 4.

Protracted delays will also affect candidates determining where, or if, they plan to seek reelection. The candidate filing deadline is May 26.

Republican Reps. Rob Wittman, John McGuire, and Ben Cline haven’t announced where they plan to run after their districts were shifted considerably in Democrats’ favor under the new map.

Rep. Eugene Vindman (D) has said he plans to move his reelection contest from his current 7th District to the new 1st District.

Absentee ballots must be sent out by June 20, and early in-person voting will begin June 18 due to federal holidays and weekends.

Hurley has a record of intervening in the redistricting process this year.

Immediately following the state legislature’s adoption of the referendum earlier this year, he ruled lawmakers failed to follow procedural rules laid out in the state’s constitution for setting the timeline.

Roughly a month later, a day before lawmakers approved the map they would present to voters, Hurley stepped in again by pausing the referendum date.

The case before the Virginia Supreme Court is Scott v. McDougle, Va., No. 260127, oral argument 4/27/26.