Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., would likely lose her seat and Republicans would gain a seat if Virginia adopts a proposed congressional district map that eliminates partisan gerrymandering, National File reported.
Spanberger, a former CIA operative, won her seat in 2018 after the Democratic Party sued the state to impose more ethnic diversity on District 7, which Republicans had held for decades.
The new map will end the Democrat gerrymandering that former Attorney General Eric Holder and Democrat lawyer Marc Elias fought for in court.
Virginia’s current congressional delegation includes seven Democrats and 4 Republicans, according to Ballotpedia. The new map would create five Republican-leaning districts, five Democrat-leaning districts, and one toss-up district.
Spanberger’s 7th District seat would be eliminated and her hometown would move to the 1st District, which Rep. Rob Wittman, a Republican, represents.
The 10th District, which is held by Jennifer Wexton, D-Va., would absorb conservative areas from the former 7th District, turning Wexton’s seat into a toss-up.
The 2nd District, held by radical Jan. 6 Committee member Elaine Luria, D-Va., will also receive more Republican-leaning constituents.
Democrats complained that the proposed map would jeopardize three seats held by women.
“It seems to be very hurtful for the three Virginia women,” said 8th District Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va. “I know we’re not supposed to have elected officials pick their voters, but it is unfortunate the way they’re drawn that incumbents like Abigail Spanberger, who had a difficult district to begin with, is tossed in a completely different district.”
The Virginia Supreme Court established a new redistricting process in which two “Special Masters,” one Republican and one Democrat, draw the new district maps for the state legislature and U.S. House districts.
The newly created Virginia Redistricting Commission failed to submit a congressional map by the deadline, so the court intervened.
Redistricting update: The next step in the redistricting process will be public comment sessions on Dec 15th and 17th. This is a new process, and we will provide updates as we have them.
— Abigail Spanberger (@SpanbergerVA07) December 11, 2021
