Editor: The Code of Virginia requires that legislative districts “shall be composed of compact and contiguous territory,” but a glance at our state’s maps shows that’s a laugh.
In November 2017, Democratic House of Delegates candidates won by an aggregate margin of 9.23 percentage points – about the same as Ralph Northam – but ended up with 49 percent of the seats. Four years ago, 53 of 100 House seats were uncontested by one of the major parties; that number fell to 39 in 2017, thanks to the anti-Trump wave.
Del. Rip Sullivan (D-48th) was the primary sponsor of bills that would have prohibited partisan gerrymandering. His proposals, and companions in the Senate, were defeated in committee.
Gov. Northam endorsed redistricting reform during the campaign, and will be urged to amend redistricting legislation that does pass with an amendment barring partisan gerrymandering.
Reform is not a partisan issue. Sullivan and Republican state Sen. Emmett Hanger (whose district stretches from the mountains west of Staunton nearly to Fredericksburg) have authored a constitutional amendment that would delegate map-drawing to an independent commission. Republican state Sen. Jill Vogel, the unsuccessful candidate for lieutenant governor and chair of the Privileges and Elections Committee (where these bills go to die), supports Hanger’s proposal, as do others on both sides of the aisle.
Despite this, Senate leaders Tommy Norment (R) and Dick Saslaw (D) oppose both the commission and limits on their ability to draw district lines.
What can we do? Join OneVirginia2021, the commonwealth’s non-partisan, citizen-based advocate for redistricting reform and the constitutional amendment. It has chapters in Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax and across the commonwealth.
We want an independent commission put before voters in November 2020 – before the next census apportionment. That will require the General Assembly to pass identical constitutional resolutions in 2019 and 2020.
Our campaign begins with a rally on March 4 at the Virginia Capitol, where we will tell the legislature (in the words of reform advocate Arnold Schwarzenegger): “We’ll be back.”
