Virginia’s Top Court Blocks Democrats’ New Congressional Map

0:00 Virginia's top court blocks the Democrats new congressional map.

0:04 It seems like states all over the place

0:07 are moving around their maps to various benefit, one party or another.

0:11 And that includes.

0:12 But I wonder if it all cancels each other out in the end?

0:14 I don't know.

0:14 I don't know.

0:15 I mean, it's gerrymandering,

0:16 I guess is kind of the one of the terms for Greg Gerow.

0:19 Uh, Bloomberg.

0:19 Elections reporter.

0:20 Blum.

0:21 Uh, Greg, can you tell us what happens, uh, in Virginia?

0:25 Yeah.

0:25 So the Virginia Supreme Court and a 4 to 3 decision, uh,

0:29 invalidated a, uh, aggressive Democratic, uh,

0:33 gerrymander of the state's congressional map.

0:35 The Democratic legislature had, uh,

0:37 enacted new lines that would have favored their party in ten of 11 districts,

0:42 which would have been a net gain of four

0:44 seats and help them win control of the, uh,

0:47 win control of the House in November elections.

0:49 So this is a this is a setback to the Democratic campaign to do

0:53 just that in an ongoing and intensifying

0:56 mid-decade redistricting war against the Republicans.

0:58 So for Democrats who are pushing for redrawing, um, the districts, is that it?

1:05 There's no appeal.

1:06 There's no second effort or third effort.

1:08 Uh, for state law, the Virginia Supreme Court would be the last,

1:12 uh, the last court, uh,

1:14 to go to if there is a, maybe a matter of federal law involved,

1:17 I suppose they could, you know, try out the U.S.

1:19 Supreme Court.

1:20 Um, they intervened in a New York or just in case, uh,

1:23 just a month or two ago, involving Nicole,

1:26 my tax district in Staten Island and Brooklyn.

1:29 So we'll see if the Democrats find any recourse in the US Supreme Court.

1:33 But this is, uh, this is, uh, Virginia Supreme Court is the, uh,

1:36 should be the final arbiter for a state constitutional questions.

1:40 Greg, can you just give us a little history lesson here on gerrymandering?

1:44 When does it occur?

1:45 How often does it occur?

1:47 It just seems like the activity and the discussion around

1:50 this remapping is more right around now than I can ever remember.

1:54 Oh, yes.

1:55 Um, usually the process of redrawing congressional district lines

1:58 takes place once per decade after the decennial census,

2:02 usually in years like ending in 1 or 2

2:05 before the first elections of a of a decade.

2:08 Um, what triggered this ongoing mid-decade

2:11 registering war started in Texas last summer,

2:14 when the Republican government there, at the urging of President Trump,

2:18 decided to enact new GOP favoring lines in an effort

2:22 to help defend their very shaky House majority.

2:25 Some other Republican governments followed suit in North Carolina and Missouri.

2:29 Democrats counterattacked, notably in California,

2:32 but also in Virginia, where, as I noted,

2:35 the Democrats had hoped for a four seat gain

2:37 in Virginia that has now been effectively wiped out.

2:41 Um, as far as some other states or, uh,

2:43 some other Republican states are trying to redraw lines in light of a U.S.

2:47 Supreme Court decision last week that curtails the use of race in redistricting.

2:51 Uh, the big question will be how much

2:53 will it really all matter in the midterm elections?

2:54 Um, commit to reducing wars may turn out to be somewhat of a partisan wash.

2:59 At the end of the day.

3:01 Are there any other redistricting efforts that are

3:04 pending right now that could affect the midterms?

3:07 Yes.

3:08 Tennessee's Republican government just enacted very swiftly

3:10 a new map that would that dismantles the state's,

3:14 uh, only Democratic district, um, a compact,

3:18 uh, black majority district in the Memphis area.

3:21 Um, South Carolina Republicans are looking at redrawing lines.

3:24 Um, Louisiana, that was the state, uh, that was at the center of the U.S.

3:29 Supreme Court decision last week.

3:30 And Louisiana Republicans are looking at, uh, eliminating one,

3:33 at least one of the Democratic districts there.

3:35 So, uh, a few more states may try to, um,

3:39 shoehorn in new lines, uh, before the November elections.

3:42 A lot of state, uh, candidate filing deadlines have passed.

3:45 So it might be hard some some of the new

3:48 maps are going to face court challenges to the, uh,

3:50 Tennessee map already has a challenge filed in the last 24 hours by the NAACP.

3:55 So, uh, the courts will be the final arbiters in some of these cases,

3:58 but we still may have a couple of states

4:00 left to to try and get new maps in before, uh, before the November elections.

4:04 Yeah, because I guess that's, I guess, the most pressing, uh,

4:07 thing for politicians around the country is

4:09 will these things impact the midterm elections?

4:11 And in some places it might.

4:13 Is that is that what we should?

4:15 Is that how we should think about it?

4:17 Yeah.

4:18 Yeah.

4:18 I think, um, you know, you still in some of the districts that were redrawn,

4:22 some of them are still very competitive in Texas.

4:24 Republicans anticipated gaining five seats under the new map.

4:28 Uh, I think today with a political environment that is,

4:32 you know, trending against them, uh, midterm political environment that is, um,

4:36 Republicans are not guaranteed of picking up five seats.

4:38 They may get they may get three at the end of the day.

4:41 And you still have to field the candidates and run

4:43 the elections and carry a quality and campaigns matter,

4:46 the political environment matters.

4:48 And that, um, you know, that that may,

4:50 uh, restrict kind of the anticipated gains to redistricting.

4:53 Um, but still, uh, every with the House majority

4:57 beating is as being as slim as it is.

4:59 Every seat matters, every district matters,

5:02 and any state that redraws maps could

5:04 have a disproportionate effect on the House elections,

5:07 given how tight the majority is.

5:10 Greg, what other surprises are you looking ahead to potentially, uh,

5:15 before the midterm elections as you kind

5:17 of just scan over the national map here?

5:21 Well, um, any, any court decisions that may be forthcoming that might,

5:26 uh, block any additional litigation.

5:28 I'm looking at, uh, say Florida, for example.

5:31 Uh, the Republicans, uh, led by Ron DeSantis,

5:34 just implemented a new map there that could deliver up

5:37 to four additional seats for the party in that state.

5:39 That could go a long way toward helping, uh,

5:42 House Republicans try to defy history and keep their House majority.

5:46 Democrats are filing suit against that map, um, and, uh,

5:50 under the grounds that the state constitution,

5:53 uh, bars aggressive partisan gerrymandering.