See the full results and follow WTOP’s team coverage of the 2026 Virginia redistricting referendum online, on air at 103.5 FM or on the WTOP News app.
Virginians have approved an amendment to allow for mid-decade redistricting, clearing a major hurdle for Democrats hoping to redraw the state’s congressional maps to gain seats in the U.S. House of Representatives during the midterm elections this fall.
It’s a move that Democrats argue will counteract Republican-led redistricting efforts in other states, including Texas’s successful redistricting, prompted by President Donald Trump.
Millions of Virginians cast votes in Tuesday’s special election which spotlighted a nationwide showdown over gerrymandering.
Voters were asked whether the commonwealth’s constitution should be amended to grant the General Assembly authority to temporarily adopt new congressional maps.
Just before 9 p.m., the Democratic “yes” campaign pulled ahead with 50.3% of the vote, while the “no” campaign is just behind with 49.7% of the vote, with 82% of votes counted, according to The Associated Press.
Republicans have challenged the legality of redistricting, and the Virginia Supreme Court is expected to have the final say on whether the maps can be redrawn. The court had moved to hear arguments after the special election.
The amendment could open the door for Democrats to redraw the state’s congressional lines in hopes of gaining four seats in the U.S. House, potentially impacting the overall balance of power in Congress. The new maps would remain in effect through 2030.
Critics of the proposed map have argued it would compromise the representation of Republican voters. Under the current map from 2021, Virginia is represented in the U.S. House by six Democrats and five Republicans.
Turnout statewide
Early vote estimates had suggested high turnout in areas led by GOP representatives and less sizable turnout in largely-blue counties located in Northern Virginia, which are densely populated.
Turnout ahead of Election Day outpaced the 2025 election in Waynesboro, Rockingham, Augusta, Shenandoah and Prince Edward counties, according to data collected by VPAP.
But voting picked up in Northern Virginia amid a “Super Saturday” campaign on April 11, and some precincts reported a surge of voters in the final hours of voting on Tuesday.
In Fairfax County, early vote totals showed 80,752 votes for “yes” and 31,552 votes for “no,” as of 8:30 p.m.
The county’s elections office estimated about 41.1% of registered voters cast ballots in Tuesday’s election, as of 5 p.m. Turnout in 2025 reached 55%, according to the state’s department of elections.
In Loudoun County, about 87,346 voters sided with the “yes” campaign, while 56,673 voted against the amendment, as of 8:15 p.m., according to the state office of elections.
About 45% of the Loudoun County’s 310,406 voters cast ballots in the referendum, when combining Election Day votes with early ballots, as of 7:40 p.m., according to the state office of elections.
In 2025, turnout reached 55% with 169,093 ballots cast in Loudoun County.
According to the Prince William County Office of Elections, voting surged late in the day. Roughly 143,678 ballots were cast as of 8:15 p.m. In the last statewide election, about 166,400 ballots were cast.
Most of those votes favored Democrats, with 90,240 going toward the “yes” campaign and 53,413 going toward the “no” campaign, according to preliminary vote totals.
More than 1.37 million voters cast ballots early on the referendum, largely keeping pace with the 1.5 million voters who participated in the last statewide election, when the governorship was up for grabs, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
Why analysts said redistricting was a ‘hard sell’ in Virginia
Virginians have consistently elected Democrats to state and national offices in recent years, including a slate of Democrats elected to statewide office last November. But political analysts said the debate over gerrymandering may not be divided purely on party lines in Virginia.
Just six years ago, Virginians voted to pass a constitutional amendment that restricted the Virginia General Assembly’s ability to gerrymander maps. Instead, a bipartisan commission handles drawing congressional maps once every 10 years.
That amendment’s passage was seen as Virginians taking a stand against partisan gerrymandering in 2020.
“It’s a hard sell when people have previously opposed something like this and now are in favor of it and you have to sort of make that argument and get people to go back on what they thought they believed,” Marty Cohen, a professor of political science at James Madison University, said ahead of Election Day.
Some of the advertising campaigns leading up to the special Election Day focused on that 2020 vote, according to professor Karen Hult, who teaches political science at Virginia Tech.
“What this is doing is renewing so-called partisan gerrymandering or gerrymandering that is dividing lines that benefit one party rather than the other party, when people in Virginia had already expressed the sentiment that we wanted to turn to a more balanced commission in making those decisions,” Hult said.
Voters on both sides press ‘fairness’
Virginians on both sides of the issue told WTOP’s Luke Lukert they want redistricting to be fair for all voters in the state and around the country.
“I wish that we didn’t have to fight back in a way that feels like fighting fire with fire, like, I wish there was an easier compromise between the parties that it was a fair system always, that it valued all people equally, and that’s just not how it’s happening across the country right now,” Diane Maloney told WTOP outside the Fairfax County Government Center Elections Office.
“So I felt like it was important to vote today to make that clear.”
Supporters of the redistricting effort argue it’s a necessary response to gerrymandering in other states.
“We need fairness across the board, making sure everybody’s treated equally,” said Kevin Lovelace, who voted yes. “We’re going to see if the shenanigans stop and we can get people in place to make things better for everybody across the board.”
Rose Winston called the vote a “power play grab” by the Democratic Party.
“I came in and I voted no today,” she said. “The Board of Elections didn’t even allow the citizens to put this in the voting booth area, so they were on purpose deceptive.”
WTOP’s Luke Lukert contributed to this report.
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