Republicans are pointing fingers at each other after Democrats’ big gerrymandering win in Virginia.
Pending state Supreme Court approval, a Democrat plan for redrawing Virginia’s congressional districts passed in a major blow to Trump ahead of the midterms, potentially handing them a four-seat windfall in the House from a current 6-5 split.
“You’d be hard-pressed to find a single Republican tonight who doesn’t think the GOP should’ve done more in Virginia. It actually hurts more that it was so close,” one anonymous Republican operator told Politico.
Bemoaning GOP spending falling short compared to the Democrats, a second anonymous party strategist said, “If they had spent some money, they could have won tonight and someone’s got to own that and explain why that decision was made.”
Some 51.5 percent of Virginians said yes to redistricting on Tuesday, while 48.5 percent voted no, after 97 percent of the vote had been counted.
The race was the state’s most expensive ballot measure in its history, Axios reports. In total, $83 million was spent, $62 million of which came from pro-measure, House Democrat-aligned nonprofit House Majority Forward.
The GOP’s defeat comes amid a wider tug-of-war, kicked off by President Trump to redraw congressional districts ahead of the midterms. It has since descended into a battle of attrition with few gains and heavy use of political capital.
Speaking to the same outlet, one Republican in Virginia said, “I just don’t think that Republicans looked at the map and said, ‘OK, what’s the worst case scenario, what could happen if all the Democrat-controlled legislators rebel against this?’
“We’re seeing a thing that felt really good at the moment erase gains that we fought for elsewhere.”
Trump’s initial push saw gains in GOP-led states Texas, North Carolina, Ohio and Missouri. But now Democrat legislatures have fought back, making gains in California and Utah.
As the midterms loom and GOP control of both houses sits on a knife-edge, the possible Virginia swing from 6-5 to 10-1 House delegates would be a bitter pill for Republicans.
The GOP House speaker, Mike Johnson, called the Virginia result “egregious” before launching a tirade about a 46 percent return for Trump in Virginia in the presidential election.
“That is why Democrats relied on rigging the ballot question in order to win,” he said. “We fought this effort with money, manpower, and in the courts - and those fights will continue.”
Some conservatives admitted this battle was of their own making.
Radio host Erick Erickson, who is popular with MAGA evangelicals, said on X: “Just so you get the truth and not the partisan spin here, Republicans came up with the idea of the mid-decade redistricting fight and started in Texas... Now, as drawn, the Democrats have an advantage from the redistricting fight.”
Rep. Richard Hudson, the National Republican congressional Committee chair, hopes Virginia’s Supreme Court comes to their rescue.
“This close margin reinforces that Virginia is a purple state that shouldn’t be represented by a severe partisan gerrymander,” he said. “That’s exactly why the courts, who have already ruled twice to block this egregious power grab, should uphold Virginia law.”
Some even turned their ire to other red states that didn’t go all-in on their own gerrymandering fights. Now, most states are off the table, and red hopes turn almost solely to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to give the GOP a narrow lead come November.
Trumpy CNN commentator Scott Jennings, meanwhile, said: “Virginia literally had the fairest maps in the nation... I’m not surprised that the yes vote won. They had all the money and all the lies.”
