Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger is facing criticism from Republicans after endorsing a redistricting amendment that contradicts earlier statements in which she said she had no plans to redraw the state’s congressional maps.
In a video statement on X released Thursday, Spanberger announced she would vote “yes” on a ballot amendment allowing Virginia to temporarily alter its redistricting framework in response to partisan mapmaking in other states.
“I supported the formation of Virginia’s bipartisan redistricting commission in 2020, and that support has not changed,” Spanberger said. “What has changed is what we’re seeing in states across the country — a president who says that he’s ‘entitled’ to more Republican seats before this year’s midterms.”
I’m voting YES on Virginia’s redistricting amendment.
Here’s why: pic.twitter.com/asTf5s1mS3
— Governor Abigail Spanberger (@GovernorVA) March 5, 2026
Spanberger argued the proposal is designed as a limited response to national redistricting battles. According to the governor, the amendment would be temporary, triggered only if other states redraw their own maps, and would ultimately preserve Virginia’s long-term bipartisan redistricting process.
If approved, the measure would create a mechanism allowing the state assembly to revisit its congressional maps in the event of redistricting actions elsewhere in the country. The measure is temporary and would be in place until October 2030. Virginia normally redistricts every 10 years, with the next scheduled redistricting being in 2031.
However, this statement conflicts with Spanberger’s previous public positions on the issue.
In 2025, Spanberger told reporters she had no intention of pursuing new maps in the state, saying, “I’ve been watching with interest what other states are doing, but I have no plans to redistrict Virginia.” Years earlier, in 2019, she said opposition to partisan mapmaking was a core principle, stating that “opposing gerrymandering should be a bipartisan priority.”
Republicans now argue the governor’s support for the amendment represents a reversal — and a politically convenient one.
“She campaigned on not gerrymandering; on saying that gerrymandering was wrong, and that flips when push comes to shove and she gets a chance to reward those leaders in the national party like Barack Obama and Hakeem Jeffries,” Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA) told Fox News in February.
The debate comes amid an intensifying wave of redistricting fights nationwide. In Democratic-controlled Maryland, lawmakers have openly explored potential map changes that could further advantage Democrats in congressional races. Texas has already added five new Republican seats, to which California countered with five Democrat seats with a ballot measure. All the while, multiple Republican-controlled states in the southern U.S. have also examined ways to redraw districts ahead of upcoming elections, with the Supreme Court hearing a case that could gut the Voting Rights Act. The escalating tit-for-tat has raised concerns that a new round of partisan redistricting could spread across multiple states before the next election cycle.
Spanberger’s proposal attempts to frame Virginia’s move as defensive rather than partisan. In her announcement, she emphasized that the amendment would only take effect if other states act first.
Still, opponents say the move undermines the very bipartisan opposition Spanberger once championed. Virginia voters will decide the fate of the amendment in a statewide ballot vote scheduled for April 21.
