In a huge defeat for Democrats, the Virginia Supreme Court has effectively blocked a new congressional map that would eliminate all but one Republican seat — at least, for now.
Specifically, the justices denied a request from Attorney General Jones to pause a lower court order that halted the certification of last week’s unconstitutional redistricting referendum.
Here are the details of the ruling:
🚨 JUST IN: The Virginia Supreme Court has OFFICIALLY DENIED Democrats’ move to reinstate the 10D-1R Congressional map — refusing to pause the lower court order, which BLOCKS certification
GREAT! A legal win!
This means the map stays blocked while legal challenges play out.… pic.twitter.com/C2MiEjGzXd
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) April 28, 2026
JUST IN: The Virginia Supreme Court has OFFICIALLY DENIED Democrats’ move to reinstate the 10D-1R Congressional map — refusing to pause the lower court order, which BLOCKS certification
GREAT! A legal win!
This means the map stays blocked while legal challenges play out.
Do the right thing and STRIKE IT DOWN FULLY 🔥
Florida redrawing + this map being DOA would be absolutely enormous for the midterms.
🚨 MAJOR WIN FOR FAIR MAPS IN VIRGINIA!
The Virginia Supreme Court just denied Democrat AG Jones request to pause the lower court order blocking the controversial redistricting referendum. pic.twitter.com/gpL5LWuCmN
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) April 28, 2026
As we previously reported, the redistricting referendum itself was sketchy, to say the least.
First of all, the ballot was intentionally misleading.
Take a look for yourself:
ORWELLIAN: Redistricting push that would hand Democrats near-total control over the state of Virginia is framed at the ballot box as “restoring fairness in the upcoming elections” pic.twitter.com/Zf9TDuJJY8
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) April 21, 2026
Secondly, the results of the election were narrow. For most of the night, it appeared that the redistricting would be voted down.
That all changed when mail-in ballots came rolling in.
The new map that Democrats want to use for this year’s midterms is also highly problematic.
As it stands, Virginia is split almost 50-50 — with six Democrat and five Republican seats.
If the map is re-drawn, then this would likely change to 10 Democrat seats and just one Republican, disenfranchising countless Virginians whose beliefs do not align with Democrat values.
Here’s a comparison of the current vs. proposed map:
Democrats won Virginia in 2024 by just 5 points
They will now control almost every district
The new map will likely give Republicans just one seat while Democrats get 10
Democrats can’t win without cheating
This is “Democracy” or something pic.twitter.com/pcoYj95V89
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) April 22, 2026
For all of these reasons, Republicans immediately contested the election, and a judge blocked its certification.
We covered that in more detail here:
As expected, Democrats appealed that ruling.
And now, it has escalated to the Virginia Supreme Court.
While today’s ruling is not a final decision, it’s a good sign that the Virginia Supreme Court is leaning towards striking it down fully.
The New York Post reported further:
The justices’ decision does not necessarily mean they will ultimately rule that the passage of the referendum was unconstitutional under state law — as GOPers are arguing.
But the ruling at least handed a short-term victory to Republicans because it delays the implementation of the referendum for now.
The justices are still weighing an overall challenge to the referendum based on procedural grounds. They fielded oral arguments in the matter Monday.
They then wrote in Tuesday’s decision, “Upon consideration whereof, the Court denies the motion’’ to overrule the temporary stay, without further elaboration.
The referendum was narrowly approved by Virginians last week by a 51.7% to 48.3% margin.
A day later, a Tazewell County-based judge blocked it from being certified thanks to an appeal from Republicans.
ADVERTISEMENTDemocrats then took that ruling to the state’s highest court, which refused to side with them at the moment.
The stakes of the case could help determine the balance of power in Washington after the midterm elections.
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