Democrat Beyer blasts GOP plan to counter Virginia redistricting by eliminating his seat
A Republican lawmaker is proposing to return Arlington and Alexandria to Washington, D.C., a move aimed at countering Democrats’ newly strengthened grip on Virginia’s congressional map following this week’s redistricting...
By Fox News · Fox News
A Republican lawmaker is proposing to return Arlington and Alexandria to Washington, D.C., a move aimed at countering Democrats’ newly strengthened grip on Virginia ’s congressional map following this week’s redistricting vote. The "Make D.C. Square Again Act" from Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., comes after voters approved Virginia’s new Democratic-backed map positioning the party to expand its congressional seat advantage by linking blue Northern Virginia suburbs with more rural districts — a shift Republicans warn could dilute GOP strength statewide. Rep. Donald Beyer, D-Va., on Thursday lambasted McCormick’s plan to finish what lawmakers in the 1860s started and return the heavily Democratic district to the District. "Rich McCormick’s bill is an embarrassing legislative tantrum," Beyer told Fox News Digital. SOROS-LINKED DARK MONEY NETWORK FUELS VIRGINIA REDISTRICTING PUSH BACKED BY NATIONAL DEMOCRATS "It is also unconstitutional, and a stupid waste of time. Republicans upset about the passage of Virginia’s redistricting referendum should stop whining, as they have no one to blame but themselves." McCormick's bill called the 1846 retrocession "unconstitutional" and restore the District of Columbia's original 100-square-mile boundary. He lamented the redistricting vote and noted that Sen. Benjamin Wade, R-Ohio, originally sparked the retrocession movement with legislation in 1866. An 1836 effort by Sen. William Preston, a Whig from South Carolina, to cede the entirety of Washington, D.C., to Maryland also failed. Alexandria County — now Arlington County and the city of Alexandria — retroceded from the District of Columbia to Virginia amid alleged economic inequities with then-Georgetown County, D.C., political mismanagement and tensions over Alexandria’s then-booming slave trade, as the North, including Washington, D.C., opposed the practice. All that remains of Washington, D.C., on the Virginia side of the Potomac River is Columbia Island, also known as Lady Bird J…