Virginia Senate Narrowly Passes Redistricting Measure
Left-leaning organizations protest the off-cycle redistricting of Virginia Senate and House of Delegates districts.
Virginia’s State Senate narrowly passed a bill Monday night that could change the map of senate and house districts across the state. The Senate bill, which squeezed through with a 20-19 vote, shifts the districts of five senate Democrats—three representing Northern Virginia—toward more Republican-voting areas and consequently alters the map of adjacent districts as well (See a map of the proposed redistricting in the media box to the right.). Sen. Barbara Favola (D-31st), who didn't have Falls Church in her district will have a piece of it now. Sen. George Barker (D-39th), who currently represents a large portion of western Alexandria, would see his district moved entirely into Fairfax County. Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-30th) would then represent…
Chuck Stein
1:43 pm on Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Oh come off it. This bill will undo a gerrymander by Democrats that allowed them to maintain hold of 20 of 40 Senate seats despite winning only 4 in 10 statewide Senate votes in the last election--talk about unrepresentative!--while at the same time adding minority membership to the chamber. The only ones who will lose out on this are white Democratic incumbents, for whom the districts were … more ›