Don't Let the Media Gaslight You on Democrats' Redistricting Win in Virginia
Defending Democracy with Marc Elias
Democracy Docket
4.9 • 702 Ratings
🗓️ 23 April 2026
⏱️ 37 minutes
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Summary
Democrats just pulled off a huge win in Virginia to combat Donald Trump’s gerrymandering power grab. But that’s not the story the Washington Post told. Marc Elias is joined by Ashley Cleaves to break down why this win in Virginia is so consequential; how election deniers have already responded; and the other battleground states where democracy is on the line.
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00:00 Big Win for Democrats In Virginia
01:13 Why This Win is Personal for Marc
05:35 Washington Post Hypocrisy
09:19 What Happens Next in Court
13:27 Election Law Implications
17:10 Marc's Redistricting Predictions
23:04 Missouri Redistricting Fight
26:32 Louisiana v. Callais Threatens Voting Rights Act
29:50 Trump Reaction & Final Takeaways
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Earlier this week, Democrats pulled off a huge victory in Virginia, fighting back against Donald |
| 0:05.1 | Trump's gerrymandering power grab. But you know what? Republicans, they're not done yet. |
| 0:09.1 | Lawsuits challenging the results remain in Virginia, and we're going to see them elsewhere. |
| 0:13.6 | Ron DeSantis in Florida is threatening a new gerrymander to offset these Virginia victories. |
| 0:19.4 | And we're still waiting on several court cases, |
| 0:22.2 | including a big one in the U.S. Supreme Court. I'm joined today by Ashley Cleves, legal content |
| 0:28.3 | editor at Democracy Docket. But Ashley, before we start with the substance of all this, |
| 0:32.7 | I want to show you the headline from the Washington Post editorial page after the victory. And while |
| 0:39.0 | legacy media is failing us, Democracy Docket is fiercely independent and it has no corporate |
| 0:44.5 | owners that peddle in this kind of crap. So do me a favor and click on the link in the description |
| 0:49.9 | or go to Democracydocket.com slash YouTube to learn how you can support our mission and help |
| 0:56.4 | defend democracy. Welcome, Ashley. Thanks, Mark. Happy to be here. This is a great win. I know it's, |
| 1:02.7 | it's very important for the next coming months and what we face, but I know it's also special to you. |
| 1:08.1 | So I'm very excited to talk about Virginia and everything that |
| 1:11.8 | comes next in redistricting. All right. You mentioned that it's very special to me. And I want to take |
| 1:16.9 | a few minutes and tell people why. So I live in Virginia. I've actually lived in Virginia ever since |
| 1:23.1 | I graduated law school in 1993 and moved to the Washington, D.C. area and practiced in D.C. |
| 1:30.0 | I actually, Ashley, never lived in Washington, D.C. I've been a Virginian literally from the first job I had in Washington, D.C. |
| 1:39.6 | And it's obviously where I've raised my family. So that's one reason. It is important to me. |
| 1:49.0 | The second, though, is the very first case I ever argued in the U.S. Supreme Court involved a redistricting case from Virginia. |
| 1:52.7 | I sued Virginia after it drew new maps in the 2010, after the 2010 census. |
| 2:00.5 | Republicans controlled all of government. And I know, |
... |
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