VA Dem rejects ‘power grab’ claims on Spanberger redistricting as GOP warns 10–1 map would split rural vote
A top Virginia Democrat is defending support for the redistricting effort critics are calling a "power grab" on the part of Gov. Abigail Spanberger and Richmond leadership, dismissing claims that...
By Fox News · Fox News
A top Virginia Democrat is defending support for the redistricting effort critics are calling a "power grab" on the part of Gov. Abigail Spanberger and Richmond leadership, dismissing claims that rural Virginians will have their voices diluted by an urban-centric map. The redistricting referendum, before voters through April 21, would redraw Virginia’s 6-5 Democrat-majority congressional map to a likely 10-1 spread, leaving only Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., from the Old Dominion’s mountainous far southwest in office for the GOP. Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., a first-term Loudoun County congressman, told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that the goal of the redistricting remains as stated in its referendum text: to "restore fairness" in congressional apportionment. When Virginians head to the polls, he argues, issues like the Iran conflict, health care funding and unease over the state of immigration enforcement will be on their minds. SOROS-BACKED GROUP AMONG LIBERAL ORGS PUMPING EYE-POPPING CASH INTO VIRGINIA GERRYMANDERING EFFORT "There’s two different things here … there’s the redistricting amendment: the reason the general assembly pushed this forward was to be a response to Texas and other red states who are planning to do this — the idea was to even the playing field going into the midterms," he said. "The reason I believe people will vote for it is because they are angry at the Trump administration in Virginia," he added. Subramanyam pushed back on claims from Republicans, including rural Rep. Ben Cline of the Shenandoah Valley, that areas like his, primed to be chopped up by the new map, will suddenly see their next representative ignore their needs. His district's population is centered in Loudoun, outside Washington, D.C., but it extends into rural Washington, Va., Sperryville and Warrenton, which together are geographically larger than the dense suburbs. "I spend a lot of time in Fauquier and Rappahannock Counties, even though I live in Loudoun County, and…