Governor Glenn Youngkin slammed Virginia Democrats for what he calls an “illegal” and “desperate grab for power” through a new redistricting proposal.
On Monday, the Virginia House of Delegates amended its agenda to allow a redistricting constitutional amendment to be put forward. The resolution was filed on Tuesday as HJ 6007.
Youngkin said Democrats are trying to overturn the results of a bipartisan redistricting process that Virginians overwhelmingly approved through a constitutional amendment several years ago.
That process, he noted, created maps drawn by the state’s Supreme Court after the independent redistricting commission disagreed. Youngkin claims Democrats now want to force a new map that would favor their party and undermine voters’ previous decisions.
“It’s a desperate grab for power…and I think it’s illegal,” Youngkin said on The John Fredericks Show.
“We went through all of this with a constitutional amendment on the ballot, which overwhelmingly passed, and yet they even drew the maps more blue than red. That’s what we’re fighting against already. And now, they want to draw everybody back into this illegal remap drawing,” he added.
The governor framed the redistricting effort as both a political distraction and a corruption issue, arguing that the proposal was timed to divert public attention from controversies surrounding Democratic figures, including attorney general candidate Jay Jones.
“This is not just a desperate grab for power at a time when they see this election moving against them. They’re trying to distract everybody from the key issues of this race because Jay Jones and the demented comments that he made are overwhelming them…They’re all reeling under the demented comments of Jay Jones, that they’re doing anything they can to try to change the narrative,” Youngkin said.
Youngkin further pointed out that top Democrats, including gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger and Democratic House Speaker Don Scott, accepted $150,000 each from the National Democratic Redistricting Committee just one day before the redistricting push was announced.
The governor called this a clear case of “pay for play,” stressing that campaign contributions directly influenced their political actions.
“This is corrupt, and this is representative of who these folks are,” he said.
Youngkin also pointed to Spanberger’s previous statements opposing new redistricting efforts, suggesting that she changed her position for money and political advantage.
“[Spanberger] took the money on Wednesday and then they announced this process on Thursday. Then, you couple that with the fact that Abigail Spanberger came out this past summer and she said we shouldn’t do this stuff in Virginia, and now she takes $150,000 and now there’s a redistricting process going on. You cannot trust her. You cannot trust her. She has no idea what she believes,” he said.
“As soon as money shows up, she goes with the money. I’m telling you, this woman cannot be trusted and that’s why Virginians have to get out and vote for Winsome Earle-Sears,” he added.
Youngkin repeatedly urged Republican voters in Virginia – particularly the 400,000 Virginians who voted for Donald Trump but did not turn out in his own election – to “get off the sofa” and vote to “save the Commonwealth.”
“At the end of the day, the future of the Commonwealth is at risk,” he said.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Virginia Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Glenn Youngkin” by Governor of Virginia.
Editor’s Note: John Fredericks is the Publisher for The Virginia Star.
