Virginia Ballot got Trump’s attention

[Andrea B]

Independents and Republicans make up 49% of the electorate in Virginia. I guess democracy dies in Virginia.

Because of yesterday's referendum, they will have 9% of the congressional representation.

Learing from Massachusetts, I guess.

I just saw that a Virginia circuit court has ruled that the vote to redistrict in unconstitutional and issued an injunction blocking the certification.

[jon-nyc]

What I don’t understand is how no one in the White House (and let’s not forget this was a White House initiative) figured this would just be something they could do with Texas, NC, and a handful of gop-controlled states and that the Dems wouldn’t retaliate.

[jon-nyc]

@Horace said:

It'll escalate on both sides till the courts do something about it. Which I hope they do. It's not as if the Dems checkmated the GOP with that strategy in CA and VA.

It was the White House’s strategy in Texas and a few other states. It just backfired on them since the Dems can obviously do it too.

[taiwan_girl]

@Andrea-B said:

Independents and Republicans make up 49% of the electorate in Virginia. I guess democracy dies in Virginia.

Republicans are 38% of registered voters in Texas. The new map could give them 30 of 38 seats (79%). Democracy is dieing everywhere.

[Horace]

@jon-nyc said:

@Horace said:

It'll escalate on both sides till the courts do something about it. Which I hope they do. It's not as if the Dems checkmated the GOP with that strategy in CA and VA.

It was the White House’s strategy in Texas and a few other states. It just backfired on them since the Dems can obviously do it too.

I'm aware, and it doesn't defeat my point. I've seen a lot of chest pounding online from the usual suspects over this, but it's not a checkmate, and it'll continue to escalate until the courts do something about it. Disenfranchising voters with squigly lines on a map is probably not constitutional.

[jon-nyc]

We should swap news feeds for a day. I’m seeing lots of hand-wringing from the usual suspects who don’t mention why this was done in CA and VA and had nothing to say when Texas did this but are now suddenly worried about democracy.

[Horace]

One's media diet is one thing, an ability to call balls and strikes on it fairly is another. Even the tribalists at the Daily Wire had no trouble meeting the low bar of rationality to warn of turnabout and escalation back when TX was doing this.

[jon-nyc]

When the White House approached Texas about doing this Nate Silver wrote a piece that the Democrats are in a position to probably win the battle if they try. They had trifectas in fewer states but those states had higher populations hence more reps.

[taiwan_girl]

Virginia re-district on hold

A Virginia trial judge from the state’s rural southwest has blocked the certification of a closely watched redistricting referendum that voters supported, suddenly becoming a central figure in a high-stakes political fight.
Judge Jack S. "Chip" Hurley Jr.'s ruling on Wednesday centers on the conclusion that the redistricting measure was never legally valid in the first place. Hurley, a circuit court judge based in Tazewell County, ruled that the measure was "void ab initio" on multiple grounds, including lawmakers’ failure to follow mandatory constitutional requirements for adopting amendments and the use of misleading ballot language presented to voters.

https://www.newsweek.com/who-is-jack-hurley-judge-blocks-virginia-redistricting-11867680

[jon-nyc]

He should read the language the Texas legislature offered to their voters.