Jay

Congratulations, Virginia! Republicans are trying to tilt the midterm elections in their favor, but they haven’t done it yet. Thanks for showing us what it looks like to stand up for our democracy and fight back.

Virginia voters have spoken, and tonight they pushed back against a President who claims he is ‘entitled’ to more Republican seats in Congress. As we watched other states go along with those demands without voter input, Virginians refused to let that stand. We responded the right way: at the ballot box.

Virginia in 2024: 🔵52% Kamala 🔴47% Trump Virginia for this Redistricting: 🔵51% Yes 🔴49% No New Congressional Seats: 🔵91% Democrats 🔴9% Republicans

I hate gerrymandering, but the question is: If GOP states brazenly do it mid-decade, is the proper blue-state response "two wrongs don't make a right" or "level the playing field to neutralize its national impacts." Ultimately, I voted "yes" based on the latter. Paradoxically, I consider this the best way to ultimately discourage mid-decade gerrymanders because it prevents the instigators from being rewarded with much more net House seats. And I believe this cross-state backlash will discourage this mid-decade gambit from being repeated in the future. Ultimately, a national ban on gerrymandering is central to fixing Congress. But passively letting one side gerrymander and be rewarded for it would move us further away from that point. Conservatives should recognize this "peace through strength" principle: The best way to discourage war is not to unilaterally disarm, but rather to build a strong enough military to discourage the other side from launching the next war.

VIRGINIA VOTERS TODAY

51% of voters can take away 100% of the rights of 49% of the voters. Democracy.