Virginia Democrats have announced their top priority for the 2026 legislative session: ramming through three constitutional amendments starting on day one.
Governor-Elect Abigail Spanberger and her allies in the General Assembly aren’t even pretending to govern for all Virginians. They’re moving immediately to lock in their radical agenda before voters can stop them.
“The constitutional amendments are absolutely going to be some of the first things we tackle,” State Delegate Katrina Callsen (D-54) told NBC29.
Democrats want to bypass the bipartisan redistricting commission that 66% of Virginians voted for in 2020—just six years ago. This amendment would let the Democrat-controlled General Assembly gerrymander congressional districts to flip up to four seats blue.
Even UVA Center for Politics scholar Jeff Schapiro expressed skepticism: “It comes barely six years after Virginia voters approved a constitutional amendment to depoliticize redistricting, hyper gerrymandering, if you will. So, one’s got to wonder if perhaps this is something at which voters might look askance.” (NBC29)
Democrats want this on the ballot as early as April 2026—when turnout will be low and most voters won’t even know there’s an election.
“We want to get them in front of Virginia voters as soon as possible, particularly the redistricting one,” Callsen said. “We’re hoping that we can send that directly to voters as early as April.” (NBC29)
The Virginia Senate approved the redistricting amendment on October 31, 2025 by a 21-16 party-line vote, following a 51-42 party-line vote in the House of Delegates.
Republicans have pushed back hard. State Senator Chris Head (R-3) said: “The citizens of the commonwealth voted overwhelmingly in a presidential election year referendum—66.1% voted to eliminate the ability to do exactly what they are trying to do, and people should be outraged at this overreach power grab.” (Virginia Mercury)
U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-9) added: “To conflate and say ‘We ought to be like Texas’ or ‘We ought to be like California’ is just wrong. We’re Virginians and we ought to be proud to be Virginians and the Virginia voter, not the California voter, not the Texas voter, the Virginia voter said they wanted a nonpartisan process.” (WDBJ)
This amendment would automatically restore voting rights to convicted felons after they serve their sentences—potentially adding hundreds of thousands of new voters to the rolls without any individual review.
Virginia is currently the only state that permanently disenfranchises all people with felony convictions unless the governor approves individual rights restoration. (Brennan Center for Justice)
Governor-Elect Spanberger has praised the amendment, tweeting in January 2025: “I’m glad to see the VA House of Delegates move forward a constitutional amendment to automatically restore voting rights to formerly incarcerated Virginians.” (Restoration News)
The amendment passed the Senate 21-18 on January 21, 2025, and the House 55-42 on February 13, 2025. (Ballotpedia)
In 2016, then-Governor Terry McAuliffe attempted to restore voting rights to over 200,000 felons by executive order, but the Republican-led General Assembly challenged the move in court and won. The Virginia Supreme Court ruled that while the governor’s power to restore voting rights is absolute, it requires the governor to act on requests individually. (NBC29)
Democrats want to enshrine abortion access in the Virginia Constitution, making it nearly impossible to ever restrict—even with future pro-life majorities.
The amendment passed the House 51-48 and the Senate 21-18, with all Democrats in favor and all Republicans opposed. (Ballotpedia News)
State Senator Mark Peake (R-8) raised concerns about the amendment’s language: “There’s no age mentioned in the constitutional amendment that just says any individual has a right to an abortion, doesn’t distinguish between adults and minors so we’re very concerned that will do away with parental consent.” (WSET)
Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R) added: “I am morally opposed to this bill; no protection for the child.” (AP)
Victoria Cobb, director of the conservative Family Foundation, called the wording of the amendment “deceptive” because it uses the phrase “reproductive freedom” and doesn’t contain the word “abortion.” (VPM News)
State Senator Creigh Deeds (D-11) claims Democrats are “reluctant” about redistricting: “This is not what any of us want to do, but it’s kind of the corner we’re pushed into.” (NBC29)
Translation: They’ll do it anyway.
Deeds blamed President Trump for the move: “Because we’ve never had a president who’s gone from state to state trying to induce partisan redistricting in order to pick up Congressional seats. This president has done that.”
State Senator Schuyler VanValkenburg (D-Henrico) was more direct: “We’ve never had a president threaten and strong-arm state governors and legislators for changes to their state’s maps, for partisan games. Yet that is exactly what we are seeing now.” (Virginia Mercury)
Democrats are rushing to change the rules before Virginians can hold them accountable. They’re betting on low-turnout elections and voter confusion to push through their radical agenda.
As political analyst Sam Shirazi noted about the redistricting referendum: “If you think Trump has negative approval in Virginia, which the election results seem to suggest he does, you would think if you don’t like Trump, you’ll vote yes. If you like Trump, you’ll vote no… it’s essentially going to become a referendum on Trump.” (Virginia Independent)
Stay informed. Stay engaged. And vote NO on the redistricting power grab in April.