Pinwheels and the ‘lobster district’: How Virginia Democrats drew up a US House map to all but lock out Republicans | CNN Politics

Virginia Democrats hope the new congressional map voters approved Tuesday will flip four Republican House districts, delivering 10 of 11 seats in a state former Vice President Kamala Harris won with just 52% of the vote in 2024. The plan dramatically reworks entire sections of the state, slicing up deep blue districts in the Washington, DC, suburbs and around Richmond, and creates a new district running along the Blue Ridge Mountains that connects liberal cities. Virginia’s current map, which was drawn by a pair of court-appointed redistricting experts in 2021, is compact and produced six districts that lean towards Democrats, four that lean towards Republicans, and one which is highly competitive. Opponents of Tuesday’s referendum ran ads noting that Gov. Abigail Spanberger and former President Barack Obama backed nonpartisan redistricting then. The newly enacted map is a jagged puzzle specifically drawn to help Democrats win as many seats as possible. The vote is just the latest volley in a redistricting battle that kicked off last year, when Republicans redrew Texas’ map with the goal of flipping five Democratic seats. Spanberger and Obama now argue the new map is necessar