Abigail Spanberger called gerrymandering detrimental to democracy – then approved the worst gerrymander in America.
Now the Honest Elections Project just filed a brief with Virginia's Supreme Court showing exactly how she broke state law to make it happen.
And if the court agrees, something Spanberger never expected is about to end her entire scheme.
Virginia Democrats Kept a Special Session Open for Two Years to Pass Their Scheme
Virginia voters head to the polls Tuesday in a redistricting referendum — and the stakes couldn't be higher.
Democrats want to flip the state's congressional map from its current 6-5 split to a 10-1 Democratic wipeout, erasing four Republican seats ahead of the November midterms.
But Spanberger and House Speaker Don Scott didn't just push a gerrymander — they pushed it through a special session that was kept alive for nearly two years.
That's not a procedural quirk — that's a violation of the Virginia Constitution.
The Honest Elections Project filed a brief this week with Virginia's Supreme Court making exactly that argument.
"If you look at what the Constitution of Virginia requires and what the law requires, it's very clear that what happened here was an illegally extended special session," Jason Snead, the group's executive director, told Fox News Digital.
Virginia's part-time legislature was effectively turned into a full-time one — kept in session for 23 months, then used to ram through a constitutional amendment that bypassed the voter-approved redistricting commission.
Snead called it "a blatant violation of the limits the Constitution puts on legislative power."
Virginia's Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on April 27 – just six days after Tuesday's vote.
If the court rules against Spanberger and Scott, the entire redistricting scheme gets thrown out before a single new district is ever used.
Snead told Fox News Digital that if the referendum passes Tuesday, the court decision becomes "the last chance" to stop this map before the next census.
Spanberger Admitted Her Promise Not to Gerrymander Meant Nothing
During her campaign, Spanberger told Virginians she had "no plans" to redraw the congressional map.
Five months after winning by 15 points, she's the most unpopular new governor in Virginia's modern political history.
A Washington Post-Schar School poll and a State Navigate survey both put her approval and disapproval tied at 47% – the worst early numbers for any Virginia governor in decades.
The intensity is even more damaging: 41% of voters strongly disapprove.
Her own party is distancing themselves from her — Spanberger has been pulled from the "yes" campaign's ads entirely in the final stretch of the election.
Don Scott made zero effort to hide the scheme's real purpose.
"At Donald Trump's direction, they're manipulating election maps because they know they can't win on their agenda in 2026," Scott told reporters in February. "A 10-1 map levels the playing field."
He didn't say it was about fairness — he said it was about stopping Trump.
Out-of-state Democrats are funding the scheme — over 97% of contributions to the pro-redistricting "Virginians for Fair Elections" group have come from outside Virginia, with millions flowing in from New York donors alone.
The Commission Virginians Built Is the One Spanberger Just Destroyed
Here's the part that should make every Virginia voter furious.
In 2020, 65% of Virginians went to the polls and voted to end partisan gerrymandering forever — building a bipartisan commission from scratch to make sure no party could ever pull this again.
Spanberger supported that commission.
She campaigned on it.
Then, five months into the governorship, she signed off on dismantling it entirely — replacing what two-thirds of her own state built with a scheme that hands Democrats 91% of Virginia's congressional seats in a state they barely carried.
That's not responding to Trump. That's politicians watching voters build a fence, then tearing it down the moment they hold the power to do it.
Rep. Ben Cline, whose district would be chopped into five pieces under the new map, put it plainly: "Their goal is the long game. You either assimilate or you're destroyed."
Virginia's Supreme Court hears arguments April 27. If the Honest Elections Project is right, the court doesn't just block a gerrymander — it tells Spanberger that illegally extending a legislative session for two years to destroy what voters built isn't governing. It's a power grab. And power grabs have consequences.
Sources:
- Ashley Oliver, "Virginia Dems Accused of Illegally 'Steamrolling' State Law," Fox News, April 17, 2026.
- Ashley Oliver, "Spanberger Once Blasted Gerrymandering and Now Backs Amendment Critics Say Could Erase Virginia GOP," Fox News, March 5, 2026.
- "Democrats Turn on Spanberger Over Plummeting Popularity Amid Redistricting Battle," Washington Examiner, April 16, 2026.
- "Virginia Congressman: Spanberger Wants to Turn Virginia Into New England," Fox News, April 2026.
- Tim Murtaugh, "Spanberger's Low Approval Ratings Are No Mystery," Washington Times, April 16, 2026.
- Shawn Fleetwood, "Spanberger Won't Decide Fate of Gun Control Bills Until After Virginia's Gerrymandering Referendum," The Federalist, April 14, 2026.
