A Virginia circuit court judge issued an order Wednesday blocking the results of the state’s redistricting referendum, which could net Democrats as many as four extra seats in the midterms.
In his decision, Judge Jack Hurley from Tazewell County said the referendum, which voters had narrowly approved the day before, was invalid, ultimately blocking the state from taking steps to enact the new district lines.
If the courts allow Virginia to enact the new congressional map, Democrats would likely be able to pick up 10 of the state’s 11 districts. The new lines would effectively bring the nationwide redistricting battle, spurred by President Donald Trump last year, to a statistical draw.
The ruling came after the Republican National Committee sued to block the referendum.
Trending
“Last night, Democrats only managed to squeak out a narrow 3-point victory despite burning tens of millions in cash and manipulating voters with misleading ballot language,” a spokesperson for the RNC wrote in a statement to ABC News. “Every step of the way, Democrats lied and deceived Virginians to push forward what has always been illegal under state law, and today’s decision once again reaffirms that.”
Virginia Democrats have vowed to fight the order.
“My office will immediately file an appeal in the Court of Appeals,” state Attorney General Jay Jones said in a statement.
“As I said last night, Virginia voters have spoken, and an activist judge should not have veto power over the People’s vote,” Jones added. “We look forward to defending the outcome of last night’s election in court.”
Earlier on Wednesday, President Donald Trump called the election results “RIGGED” in a post on Truth Social.
“All day long Republicans were winning, the Spirit was unbelievable, until the very end when, of course, there was a massive ‘Mail In Ballot Drop!’ Where have I heard that before — And the Democrats eked out another Crooked Victory!” Trump wrote in the post.
Sign in
Log into your free account with your email. Don’t have one?
Check your email for a one-time code.
We sent a 4-digit code to . Enter the pin to confirm your account.
New code will be available in 1:00
Let’s try this again.
We encountered an error with the passcode sent to . Please reenter your email.