Virginia Representative Jennifer McClellan (D) declared Sunday that Democrats in the Old Dominion will consider “all options” in response to a state Supreme Court decision that invalidated their redistricting plan. The ruling eliminates four House seats that were expected to flip to Democrats in the midterms, while handing Republicans a potential net gain of six to seven seats they would have otherwise lost, according to analysts at the Cook Political Report.
Speaking on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday,” McClellan said the General Assembly may pursue a new constitutional amendment, but her immediate focus is on the political fight. “I am focused on making sure that this November we pick up as many of these seats in Virginia as possible, no matter what the ultimate map looks like,” she told host Chris Stirewalt.
McClellan framed the decision as part of a broader effort to suppress minority voting power. “We must fight against what the Jim Crow South is doing to dilute black voters and eliminate black representation so that they can get a Republican Congress,” she said. “They know the only way they can win is not on the merits of their ideas and actions, but by rigging these maps.”
The Virginia ruling follows a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down Louisiana’s second majority-Black congressional district, making it harder for advocacy groups to justify redistricting efforts that protect minority voting power. Democrats have decried both rulings as attacks on the 1965 Voting Rights Act. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has also vowed to press forward despite the setback.
McClellan pledged a multi-pronged response. “We’re going to fight every way possible, whether that’s through the courts, whether that’s through legislatures or whether that’s at the ballot box,” she said. “We’re going to jump over, under, through any obstacle that they throw our way.”
The congresswoman also emphasized the need for coalition-building to preserve electoral integrity. “Democrats need to make sure that minority voters, be they Black, Latino or language minorities, have the opportunity to elect the candidates of their choice,” she said. “That is what the Voting Rights Act stood for. That is what the 14th and 15th Amendment, frankly, stand for.”
McClellan warned of “rampant discrimination across the South” beyond redistricting, including obstacles to voting access. Several Southern GOP-led states are already moving to redraw maps following the Supreme Court’s ruling. “If that means that we need to build new coalitions, then we need to do that,” she added. “But I’m more concerned right now about what the court has allowed.”
The Virginia Democrat’s comments underscore a growing urgency among party leaders to protect voting rights ahead of the midterms. Senator Cory Booker has similarly blasted the Supreme Court’s decision as a step back to the 1870s. McClellan concluded, “We, as Democrats, need to stand up to make sure that everyone has the ability to elect the candidate of choice, particularly those that historically have been prevented from doing so.”
