04/23/2026
The following is an essay from No Labels regarding the re-districting efforts going on around our country.
Would the adults in the room please stand up? Oh wait. There aren't any. đĄ
"In 2020, nearly 66 percent of Virginia voters approved a constitutional amendment creating an independent, bipartisan commission to draw the state's congressional maps. It was one of the largest margins for any statewide ballot measure in recent Virginia history, and it reflected something simple: voters wanted the lines drawn by citizens and legislators working together, not by whichever party happened to hold the majority in Richmond.
Last night, the same voters were asked to temporarily set that commission aside so the Democratic-controlled legislature could draw a new map. The amendment passed, 51.5 to 48.6 percent. The new map is designed to flip as many as four Republican-held seats to Democrats this November, giving one party the advantage in 10 of Virginia's 11 congressional districts.
Virginia is not the first state to do this, and it will not be the last. Republicans in Texas kicked off this mid-decade redistricting race last summer, adding as many as five GOP-leaning seats at President Trump's public urging. Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio followed. California Democrats responded in November by suspending their own independent commission to pick up three to five seats. Florida Republicans may move next.
Add it all up and the national score may look like a near-wash. Democrats have gained ground in Virginia and California, while Republicans have gained ground in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio. But the negative impacts are profound: voters in every one of those states are getting less competitive districts, fewer real choices on the ballot, and fewer reasons to believe their vote actually matters. This will almost inevitably result in the election of more far-left Democrats, more far-right Republicans, and less political influence for Americaâs increasingly abandoned center.
What makes Virginia particularly worth noting is the whiplash. The same electorate that asked for fair maps in 2020 was asked in 2026 to unwind them, and the argument for doing so was that the other side was cheating first. That is a thin reed to hang a constitutional change on, and the narrow margin of victory suggests plenty of Virginians felt the same way. It is worth adding that roughly 95 percent of the spending in this race came from dark money groups on both sides, with the pro-amendment campaign outspending the opposition by nearly two-to-one.
No Labels has said from the start that mid-decade redistricting, whether run by Republicans or Democrats, makes our politics worse. It hardens safe seats, drives candidates toward their partisan extremes, and tells ordinary voters that the outcome of their next election was decided in a legislative conference room months ago.
There is a simpler principle at stake. Voters should pick their leaders. Their leaders should not pick them."
