Court issues injunction after ruling Virginia redistricting vote was unconstitutional

Old and new Virginia congressional map.

A judge in Virginia on Wednesday ruled that the results of the the vote to redistrict the state's congressional lines was unconstitutional and issued an injunction preventing the results of Tuesday's congressional map referendum from being certified. The state attorney general has vowed to appeal the ruling.

Voters in Virginia narrowly voted in favor of redrawing the state's congressional map in Tuesday's vote. The referendum passed by a three-point margin, and the new map gives Democrats 10 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, while leaving Republicans with just one seat. On the current map, the Democrats still enjoyed an advantage, although the apportionment of seats was much more balanced with a 6-5 split. 

Tazewell County judge Jack Hurley wrote in his opinion that the state failed to follow proper procedures and the language on the ballot was unclear to voters, according to Fox5. He said the referendum was unconstitutional, and barred the state from certifying the results. Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones vowed to appeal the ruling and dismissed Hurley as an "activist judge." The case is expected to go before the state Supreme Court as early as next week. 

Republicans have raised multiple issues with the new congressional map, which many argue doesn't provide voters with fair representation in Congress. For instance, in the 2024 presidential election, Harris carried the state with 51% of the vote to Donald Trump's 46%. Democrats dominating 10 of the state's 11 seats in the House wouldn't fairly represent the state's significant base of Republican voters, critics of the referendum have argued.

Secondly, the state's new governor has been called out for campaigning on a promise to not redistrict Virginia, and then turning around and making it one of the top initiatives of her agenda after taking office in January -- and putting together the referendum ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. 

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, when asked in late August of last year, less than two months before the election, whether she intended to redraw the state's congressional lines, told reporters, "The short answer is no." Spanberger added, "I have no plans to redistrict Virginia." The governor has celebrated the result of Tuesday's referendum vote. 

During an appearance on Newsmax, Dave Rubin said the 10-1 margin would be disenfranchising to the sizable number of Republican voters in Virginia, noting that the state has historically been considered purple due to its balanced mix of Republican and Democrat voters.

"I think this is emblematic of a bigger issue that we're seeing in the country, which is that blue and red states are just going their separate way," Dave went on to say. "We're not going to really have purple states the way that we did. We're going to have the big blue states. Obviously, you put New York and Cali at the top of that. We're going to have the big red states. Florida will be number one."

Watch Dave's full appearance on Newsmax below.