The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday rejected Virginia Democrats’ emergency request to restore a new congressional map that had been approved by voters in an April 2026 referendum but struck down by the Virginia Supreme Court.1920 The state high court ruled 4-3 on May 8 that Democratic lawmakers violated procedural requirements in the Virginia Constitution when they placed the redistricting amendment on the ballot, invalidating the effort to redraw districts mid-decade.

The proposed map would have dramatically shifted Virginia’s congressional delegation from its current 6 Democratic and 5 Republican seats to as many as 10-1 in favor of Democrats by consolidating Republican voters into fewer districts.17 This mid-decade redraw was part of a broader partisan redistricting battle. Democrats pursued it in response to Republican-led map changes in states like Texas and following a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that limited the use of race in drawing districts under the Voting Rights Act.

By denying the stay, the U.S. Supreme Court left Virginia’s existing districts in place for the 2026 midterms, preserving a more balanced 6-5 split rather than the heavily Democratic-favoring configuration.1 The unsigned order came without noted dissents and represents the latest development in national fights over congressional maps ahead of the elections. Virginia will now follow its standard process for the next redistricting cycle after the 2030 census.

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