VA Redistricting Measure: Yes Votes Leading As Counting Continues

Updated at 8:29 p.m.

Yes votes have a narrow lead Tuesday night across Virginia for the special referendum to determine if the state's Congressional districts will be redrawn.

For a time no votes were in the lead bit that changed as votes from larger, more urban areas came in, including in Fairfax County, the city of Richmond and other metropolitan areas. Those areas are expected to lean toward approval of the referendum.

If approved, the move could give the Democratic party three or four more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, according to pundits.

Patch is following the vote count Tuesday night, sharing the latest unofficial results as they become available via the Virginia Elections Office. (See results table below.)

The proposed constitutional amendment would allow Virginia’s General Assembly to redraw congressional districts from 2025 to October 2030 if another state redraws districts for any other reason than to comply with a court order or to complete regular redistricting as based on census reports.

The proposed constitutional amendment is the only statewide contest on the ballot.

The referendum needs a simple majority to pass.

It reads: “Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to allow the General Assembly to temporarily adopt new congressional districts to restore fairness in the upcoming elections, while ensuring Virginia’s standard redistricting process resumes for all future redistricting after the 2030 census?”

• A “yes” vote would support allowing the General Assembly to redraw congressional districts ahead of the midterms.
• A “no” vote would leave current boundaries unchanged until the next round of regularly scheduled redistricting after the 2030 census.

As of 8:24 p.m., the votes stood as follows. (Refresh for the latest tallies throughout the night as they come in.):

129 of 133 localities reporting.

Democrats hold six of Virginia’s 11 congressional seats, but if the redistricting plan is enacted, the party could gain the upper hand in 10 districts, a net pickup of four seats.

More than 1.3 million people cast ballots during the early voting period, which ended on Saturday, according to the non-profit Virginia Public Information Project.

If the amendment passes, House Bill 29 would be triggered, implementing a new congressional district map in which a number of GOP leaning districts would be broken up into districts expected to be more friendly to Democrats, at least as forecast by votes in the 2025 gubernatorial election.

That bill was signed into law in February 2026, having passed Virginia's General Assembly in a party line vote. The state's usual 10-year redistricting cycle, implemented through a bipartisan committee, would be bypassed.

It’s the latest move in an escalating redistricting arms race that began in July 2025, when Texas Republican lawmakers redrew their state’s congressional map to favor Republicans at President Donald Trump’s urging.

Even if the measure passes, the public vote may not be the final word. The state Supreme Court is considering whether the redistricting plan is illegal in a case that could make the referendum results meaningless.

In February, Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Mark Warner (D-VA) criticized Trump for shifting the focus away from lowering costs for families and instead prioritizing redrawing maps. They applauded the temporary measure to preserve a fair playing field and protect Virginia's votes.

"While some states are moving ahead through partisan deals behind closed doors, Virginia is following its constitutional process and allowing voters to render the final judgment," they said.

The new boundaries would be in place in time for November’s midterm congressional elections, where just a handful of seats could determine which party controls the House for the last two years of President Donald Trump’s final term.

Under the proposal, state lawmakers would retain the power to redraw district boundaries until October 2030, when the authority would revert to the state’s nonpartisan redistricting commission.

Voters focus on fairness, with different perspectives

The stream of voters was steady on Tuesday at a recreation center in the Old Town area of Alexandria.

Matt Wallace, 31, said he votes regularly, but this election has additional emphasis.

“I think the redistricting issue across the country is unfortunate, that we’ve had to resort to temporary redistricting in order to sort of alter our elections across the country," he said. Wallace said he voted for the Democratic redistricting amendment "to help balance the scales a bit until things get back to normal.”

Katie Reusch, 35, said she thought the amendment was necessary to respond to the Republicans' redrawing of congressional districts in Texas last year: “You can’t just say we’re in power so we’re changing things so we stay in power,” she said.

But Joanna Miller, 29, said she voted against the redistricting measure, “because I want my vote to count in a fair way.” Miller said she was more concerned about representation in Virginia than trying to offset actions in other states.

“I want my vote and my representation to matter this fall,” she said.

That concern is particularly acute among conservative voters in the state's rural areas, many of which would be drawn into congressional districts that will be dominated by Democratic-leaning cities and suburbs.

Ruth Ann McCartney, voting in the town of South Hill, a few miles north of the North Carolina border, said she cast her ballot against the amendment.

“I look at it more, not really in terms of Republican versus Democrat,” she said. “I look at it more as we don’t have the population as northern Virginia. And as a rural area, we just need to be heard.”

Gov. Abigail Spanberger and former President Barack Obama are among other high-profile Democrats who have endorsed the referendum, saying it's a necessary response to Republican-initiated mid-decade redistricting in other states. But groups opposed to the measure have also prominently featured the two in campaign materials alongside their past quotes critical of gerrymandering.

Groups supporting the proposed amendment have far outraised those opposing it, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project.

Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson and former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, have actively campaigned against it, according to CNN and other reports.

Polling from earlier this month reveals a nearly even split, with 52% of likely voters saying they’re in favor of the measure.

Who gets to vote?

Any voter registered in Virginia can cast a ballot. Eligible voters may register on Election Day.

How many voters are there?

There were 6,386,877 registered voters as of March 1. Virginia voters do not register by party.

How many people actually vote?

About 3.4 million votes were cast in the 2025 general election for Virginia governor, which was the last statewide election. This was about 54% of registered voters at the time.

How much of the vote is cast early or absentee?

About 43% of total votes cast in the 2025 general election for governor were cast early or by absentee ballot.

As of Friday, nearly 1.2 million ballots had already been cast in Tuesday’s election. That’s about 80% of the total advance votes cast in the 2025 gubernatorial election.

When are early and absentee votes released?

Virginia counties and independent cities vary in terms of when they release results from early and absentee voting.

Less than a third of jurisdictions release all or almost all of their early and absentee voting results in their first vote update of the night.

Nearly half the jurisdictions release no early or absentee voting results in the first vote update.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.