When author and journalist Beth Macy launched a bid last fall for Virginia’s 6th District, the Democrat expected to face an uphill climb in the deep-red seat.
But if Virginia voters approve a new congressional map in a referendum next week, Democrats would be favored to win the district this fall.
Under the proposed new lines, Macy, who has never sought political office before, would likely face off in a primary against former Rep. Tom Perriello, who served one term during the Obama administration and ran for governor in 2017. What once would have been a difficult general election, she said, could now become a “much more competitive primary.”
Macy is supporting the referendum, although she said she didn’t necessarily “like the way [the Democrat-led redistricting process] went down for me.”
“But it’s not about my ego or my being in Congress,” she said in an interview. “It’s really about the whole reason I decided to run, which was to help get the House back, and that’s the most important thing at this moment.”
The vote in Virginia is just the latest step in a redistricting arms race that both political parties have waged across the country since last summer. Next Tuesday’s referendum asks voters whether to adopt a new map that would favor Democrats in 10 of Virginia’s 11 congressional districts through the 2030 elections, temporarily reversing the independent redistricting process that voters approved in 2020. Democrats currently hold just six of the commonwealth’s 11 House seats, and Republicans have criticized the proposed redraw as blatantly partisan and not reflective of Virginia’s politics.
If adopted, the new map would scramble the electoral plans of both incumbents and congressional hopefuls ahead of the primaries, which have been moved to August. A crowded Democratic primary is taking shape for the proposed 7th District, while a handful of Democrats who’d already launched campaigns for specific seats have since said they’ll run elsewhere if the new map is approved.
Both parties have been engaged in a high-stakes redistricting race since last summer, when President Donald Trump urged Texas Republicans to redraw their House lines to give the GOP as many as five new pickup opportunities. Democrats responded in kind, with California voters approving a new map in November that could yield them five new seats as well. Republican state legislators in Missouri and North Carolina also pushed through new maps, while Ohio and Utah have new congressional lines this year.
Virginia represents perhaps Democrats’ last chance to notch another win in the redistricting fight this year. The Republican-led Florida legislature is expected to meet in special session later this month to consider a new map.
Republicans hold a narrow three-seat majority in the House and maintain they’re poised to defy historical trends and keep control of the chamber this fall. And with both parties clamoring for any advantage, the redistricting fights become crucial.
“I believe that the House majority runs through Virginia,” said Rep. Rob Wittman, one of four Virginia Republicans whose seats would be redrawn to favor Democrats under the new map.
Rallying the faithful
Both parties have relied on their top surrogates to urge support for their side. Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries were both in Virginia over the weekend, a sign of how seriously Democrats and Republicans alike are taking next week’s vote.
At a rally alongside Republican members of Virginia’s congressional delegation, former Gov. Glenn Youngkin and former commonwealth Attorney General Jason Miyares, Johnson said Virginia would be key to Republicans keeping control of the House.
“The eyes of America are upon you because you have the power in your hands,” Johnson told a crowd in Bridgewater on Saturday. “You have the power to say no to this totally scandalous, unlawful, unconstitutional Democrat gerrymandering scheme that they’re trying to push upon this state.”
Onstage with Johnson were Wittman and GOP Reps. Jen Kiggans, John McGuire and Ben Cline, who all would also see their districts become more Democratic under the proposed map.
Later in the day, in Charlottesville, Jeffries called Virginia “the crown jewel” in the redistricting fight.
“We are committed to making sure that there’s a fair national map across the country, and the effort to pass this referendum will go a long way in stopping Donald Trump from being able to rig the elections and the midterms,” Jeffries said in a brief interview.
For some candidates in Virginia, the unveiling of the proposed map has prompted a reshuffle. Perriello last year launched a campaign for the 5th District, which Trump carried by 12 points in 2024, according to Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales. But he’s said he’ll run for the redrawn 6th District, which Kamala Harris would have won by 3 points, if the new map is approved.
In both districts, people are concerned about the price of gas, food and fertilizer, Perriello said.
“If we’re able to get a level playing field here and win these seats, that would probably correlate to a House majority,” Perriello said. “But more importantly … Democrats are going to be in the majority because voters very, very clearly think Washington’s going in the wrong direction. And I think that’s a lot of what this referendum is about.”
A crowded Democratic primary is taking shape in the proposed 7th District, which would be an open seat that Harris would have carried by 8 points in 2024, according to Inside Elections. Among the Democrats who’ve already declared bids for the redrawn seat are Dan Helmer, a state legislator who served as Democrats’ campaigns chair for the General Assembly in 2023 and 2025; former Virginia first lady Dorothy McAuliffe; and J.P. Cooney, a former top deputy to special prosecutor Jack Smith, who indicted Trump. On Tuesday, Olivia Troye, who served as a national security aide to Vice President Mike Pence during the first Trump administration and later broke with the GOP, joined the Democratic field.
“When this referendum passes, I’m going to keep fighting for our democracy, and in the unlikely event that it doesn’t pass, I’m going to find ways to stay in the fight to make sure we tackle the issues that are in front of us,” Helmer said in an interview.
While Virginia’s Supreme Court cleared the way for next week’s referendum, the court still hasn’t ruled on whether the amendment approved earlier this year by the Virginia legislature is legal, leaving a question mark beyond the upcoming vote.
Speaking at the Republican rally Saturday, Youngkin referred to the legal challenge to the redistricting effort but said Republicans should work to oppose the referendum in the meantime.
“I specifically have asked our Supreme Court of the commonwealth of Virginia to do your job and declare this unconstitutional,” Youngkin said. “Don’t kick the can down the road.”
