Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Tamara Keith. I cover politics. And I'm Ashley Lopez. I also cover politics. And Jad Khalil from VPM News also joins us today. Welcome, Chad.

Hey, thanks for having me. Absolutely. Today on the show, Virginia voters have two more weeks to decide whether their state joins the redistricting race, which could in turn decide which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives. Jad, explain what Virginians are voting on exactly.

Right. So this is a ballot question. So it's a yes or no question. And a yes

vote would amend Virginia's constitution in a way that allows the state legislature to draw

congressional maps in this sort of off cycle schedule, which is before the upcoming 2026 midterms. And a no vote would not do that, and it would

keep the current way of doing things, which is a bipartisan redistricting commission.

How did this ballot measure end up on the ballot? So it was very fast to answer how. So usually Virginia amends its constitution over two years, but we kind of had an accelerated schedule to get maps ready in time for the midterms if this is to be successful. So the last sort of action was during the legislative session earlier this year. And the legislature sent a bill to the governor who set this referendum date.

Right. The state in 2025 in November gave Democrats a trifecta, which then gave Democrats the opportunity to seek this redistricting.

Ashley, let's put this in the bigger context.

This is not the first time on the podcast that we have talked about a mid-decade redistricting push.

Nope. This has been going on since 2025.

And, you know, if this passes, what this means is that Democrats will have effectively beat back a big national effort started by Republicans, notably President Trump, last year.

And this effort was to give the party an edge heading into the midterms because Republicans were scared that things would look bad this year and that they would not fare well in the midterms.

And I mean, I can run through all the states that have done this so far.

Just to recap, this started with Texas.

Trump asked Texas Republicans to redraw their congressional map to add about five more seats that are favorable to the party in response.

California.

Democrats started their effort to do a sort of similar thing in Virginia, where is to get a ballot party in response, California. Democrats started their effort to do

a sort of similar thing in Virginia, whereas to get a ballot measure in front of voters there to create

five more favorable seats for Democrats. That passed court seemed to be okay with both. So those are

definitely going to be in front of voters during the midterms. And then, you know, you had North Carolina and

Missouri. They also passed. They created a few more seats for Republicans.

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