“YESTERDAY EVENING A FAKE ELECTION WAS HELD IN THE GREAT COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA! Republicans were winning all day long, the mood was unbelievable, until the very end when, of course, there was a massive 'mail-in ballot dumping!'” Trump wrote on his social media site Truth Social. “I've heard this somewhere before – and the Democrats have won another rigged victory!” – he added.
Trump commented on Tuesday's referendum, in which a majority of voters supported the temporary change of electoral districts. The reform could potentially change the distribution of House of Representatives seats in the state. Virginia currently has 11 lawmakers: 6 Democrats and 5 Republicans. The change creates 10 districts with a majority of Democratic voters and one – Republican.
The vote in Virginia was part of a months-long bipartisan war over redistricting that Texas Republicans started at Trump's direction, potentially creating four new Republican districts.
Donald Trump talks about “falsehood”. The court considers the votes invalid
Trump provided no evidence to support the fraud accusations. As is typical for Virginia votes, the last to be counted were votes from the most populous — and Democratic-dominated — northern part of the state, the Washington suburbs. This dynamic — which is evident in every election in Virginia — meant that although opponents of redistricting led most of the vote counting, supporters of reform ultimately won.
The president also accused the Democrats that the question asked in the referendum was intentionally vague. Voters were asked whether they wanted to amend the state constitution to allow the state legislature to allow redistricting “to restore fairness in upcoming elections” while also supporting the redistricting process to return to its previous state after the 2030 census. So far, the designation of districts was handled by a cross-party, independent commission.
“As everyone knows, I'm an extremely brilliant person, but even I had no idea what the hell they were talking about in the referendum, and neither do they!” – Trump wrote. “We will see if the courts will correct this travesty of 'justice',” he added.
Less than 24 hours after voters in the state voted on redistricting, a court ruled their vote invalid. The judge justified his decision by stating that the ballot question was “obviously misleading” and that the proposal was presented to voters earlier than the Virginia Constitution allowed. Therefore, all votes cast were invalid, and a redrawing of Virginia's electoral districts was not possible.
Virginia's Democratic Attorney General Jay Jones announced he would appeal the verdict.
Chaos surrounding the change of electoral districts
Trump was personally involved in both the redistricting process in Republican-governed states and the referendum in Virginia. Former President Barack Obama participated in the campaign on the other side.
Although changing electoral districts for party benefits (so-called gerrymandering) has a long tradition in the USA, the current situation is extraordinary because changes in district boundaries usually take place after the general census, which takes place at the beginning of each decade. This time, the changes are introduced in the middle of the decade.
