I just returned from voting in Virginia in the special election on the Democratic gerrymandered districts. It was fast and easy. Polling place workers said that they had a couple of hundred voters in just the last few hours. I hope that you will participate if you live in the state.
I have long opposed gerrymandering by both parties.
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger captures the hypocrisy of politicians attempting to justify these power grabs. Even before this vote, she was widely criticized for running as a moderate but then veering to the far left as soon as she was elected. Her polling numbers reflect a “stunning” drop in support due to the bait-and-switch.
No issue is more glaring than her vocal opposition to gerrymandering in any form before she ran for governor. In 2019, when the Supreme Court halted redistricting, Spanbergger declared:
“This is good news for Virginia and the country. Gerrymandering is detrimental to our democracy and it weakens the individual voices that form our electorates. Opposing gerrymandering should be a bipartisan priority.”
However, now that Democrats control the legislature, Spanberger changed her position and is pushing the most extreme gerrymandered map in the nation — a move that would take an almost evenly divided delegation and wipe out all but one Republican district. In a state considered purple and divided down the middle, the Democrats would seize 10 of 11 absurdly crafted districts, including one called “the lobster” for its contorted shape.
The Democrats are insisting that they are merely responding to Texas, but this is far more extreme than in other states. Moreover, this is a purple state where Democrats are not even trying a modest accommodation for roughly half of the voters. It is a simple muscle play to suspend the state constitution despite a prior commitment to bar gerrymandering.
Spanberger believes in fighting gerrymandering unless it works to her party’s advantage. Others have shown greater integrity. For example, Republicans in Indiana control the legislature but have refused to gerrymander the state, even “temporarily.”
The radical proposal is only possible because Virginia was once widely cited as a model of fairness in voting. Spanberger and the Democrats have now shattered that model.
Not only are the Democrats wiping out the representation of roughly half of the state (in the name of protecting Democracy), but polls show that the voters are sharply divided. A slight majority is polling in favor of the move. Yet, that division is not reflected in the measure itself, which lacks any moderation or restraint. Democrats are simply wiping out almost every Republican district because they can.
The fact that Democrats are ignoring the unfairness to half of their neighbors shows how rage politics has taken hold of the country.
It is a quick vote on a single-issue ballot, but Virginians could send a powerful message of principle by defeating this measure and standing by their long-standing opposition to gerrymandering.
Absurdity. If it’s a 40/60 split repubs demos after voting take the tp vote winners by party and give seats to 40% of repubs and 60% to dems.
Either that or disallow registration by party. It’s just people at that point. Grids can determine districts. Candidates can campaign on major concerns if any. The huge party machines become irrelevant.
Gerrymandering for any reason was declared illegal long ago.
^^^ if not perhaps the pope can start a new party- the Roman Catholic party since coming out of the closet and showing he’s really the head od nation and a political system. Jesus is never behind bombing , he said. Really, I guess the bombing in WWII wasn’t supported by Jesus? You should know since RC Jesus was aligned with the Axis and again they’re rooting for the anti-Juden group.
Well there ya go… revelation of true intent 😂. Freedom of speech is great and silence can be golden. Ya, pope, the minarets will look good surrounding the cathedral. You better hide the library, huh?
It’s just the top vote getters by total population.
I’m quiet now.
Peace ✌
‘It is a quick vote on a single-issue ballot, but Virginians could send a powerful message of principle by defeating this measure and standing by their long-standing opposition to gerrymandering.’
They won’t. And it’s the perfect example in microcosm of where we’d be federally if dems had won last November. Vote as though in every election, no matter how small, as though it’s the last one, because if dems win, it will be.
Really: WAKE UP. It could very easily be too late, quite quickly. Thinking otherwise is pure naiveté at this point.
As recent actions in California, threatening investigative journalists with criminal action for their efforts, document, the now fully nihilist Democrats, having rejected all facts which clash with their leftist ideology and all human values, honesty, competence, integrity, excellence, etc. as such, are desperately trying to establish a police state in America. Lying to the people whom you are trying to enslave is an integral part of the approach for any vicious tyrannical movement. The Democrats are no exception.
Those are nuisance lawsuits.
More fake outrage. If you are going to be against gerrymandering, you need to be against it always, not just when Ds do it,
Turley is a millionaire paid, in part, by billionaires to convince the middle and lower class to be minions to the oligarch state.
He only “both sides” it when the Democratic Party side is doing something that the Republicans don’t like that the Republicans have been doing for a very long time, and then concentrates on getting the Democrats to stop doing it.
In this case, the “both sides” are that Democrats use Gerrymandering to increase minority participation in government and Republicans use Gerrymandering to eliminate minority participation from government. The Democratic Party goal is to use this participation to lower the slope of social economic disparity and the Republican Party goal is to place high barriers against the lower class and minorities from gaining wealth.
How many NFL, NBA, Motown, Government minority billionaires and millionaires are there? What are their weighted average based on demographics? Why is Maff racist?
@Anonymous
You are an idiot. No one cares.
lower the slope of social economic disparity??? ha ha ha ha It is to stay in power DF ANON
This idiot doesn’t see the bias, corruption, and idiocy of allowing the communist parasitic poor to takeover the world as the “dictatorship of the majority.” He perceives that the Founders overthrew the “dictatorship of the monarchy” in order to ensconce the “dictatorship of the majority,” the poor, which they clearly did not when they codified restrictions on the voters by state legislatures in the Constitution.
Unfortunately, delulu is still not the solulu.
In Connecticut, 40% of the Congressional votes cast in 2024 were cast for Republicans. Connecticut sends five Representatives to Congress. How many were Republicans?
Two, in proportion to the percentage of votes cast? No.
One, as the result of rounding down? No.
Zero. A big fat zero. Forty percent of CTers go unrepresented.
So why do Democrats gerrymander? I forgot.
This is about Virginia, not Connecticut. Perhaps those unrepresented people should move to a more hospitable state.
You are absolutely right. This is fake outrage. Professor Turley only see wrong when done by the Democrats
It’s nonsense when counties are shaped like lobsters. “Compact”. There’s no need for ” districts.
The American Founders wrote the Constitution for the benefit of, and execution by, capable, successful, and noble people in an environment of a state-legislature-restricted-vote republic within the framework of democracy.
That has not come to pass. America has been subsumed by a false dictatorship of the majority, the poor, who abuse rights and freedoms simply to covet and steal from, to confiscate the prosperity of, the producers. America was established to be rational. It is not.
No party embodies Fascism more than today’s Democrat party, and no state’s Democrat party mirrors Mussolini, Hitler and Stalin more than Virginia’s, led by Louise Lucifer “Ten F*cking One” Lucas.
@Anti-Fascism
Indeed, and anyone holding out hope the ‘good guys’ on the left will somehow stand up is whistling in the dark. It’s a globalist regime, period.
Prof. Turley – as a Constitutional Law Professor AND a historian correlating social and governmental interactions, especially as it relates to successful and failed Democracy evolution, I am deeply surprised you have not correlated the Former CIA employee who has been reported to have used her position for investigation and persecution of US citizens within the United States to historical precedence.
It comes to mind we are seeing in Virginia today the actions demonstrated through the German Enabling Act of 1933 built on the Reichstag Fire Decree – as endorsed and supported by General Milley in his trial balloon for a revolutionary coup supported, or even run by the Military[himself] to eliminate Democracy). Question: Why did HE receive an unconditional presidential pardon? (https://www.wsj.com/opinion/reichstag-fire-gen-milley-jan-6-nazis-11626903897) , not only by the “The New World Order” idealists, but from what seems the entire leadership message and power alignment of the Democrat leadership.
Effectively:
1. Eliminate the electoral process by effectively removing the voting rights of those who are NOT “progressive allies”
2. Hence, remove legislative power and store it as a prerogative state dominated by the reigning oligarchy and foreign funded elected judges
3. Virginians voted for this 52% (and much higher legislatively). They deserve what they voted for. HOWEVER, don’t make the rest of us live under the new Virginia Reich.
Comrade Spanberger typifies all that is evil about Democrat politicians …, except …,thus far…, the disgusting immorality of Swalwell.
There’s good water in Tennessee, as Prof. Turley has noted. He could broadcast from a shack in back like Tucker Carlson.
Spanberger seems intent on undermining the voting rights of Virginians in every way she can. She backed this extreme gerrymander that effectively disenfranchise most Republican-leaning Virginia voters with regard to their U.S. House vote. She also just signed legislation for Virginia to join the ill-considered and probably unconstitutional National Interstate Popular Vote Compact that would effectively nullify the presidential votes of all Virginia voters in the (hopefully, unlikely) event it ever takes effect.
Over half of Virginians support her measure. She’s doing what the voters want.
As for the gerrymander, that may be true, but it disenfranchises nearly 50% of the voters who disfavor it (polling shows that voters are closely divided, with just over 50% favoring, and just under 50% disfavoring). So, we have a situation where slightly over 50% of voters back a measure to seriously dilute/nullify the votes of the remaining voters.
As for the popular vote compact, it disenfranchises 100% of Virginia voters in election cycles where Candidate A carries Virginia but Candidate B wins the popular vote.
To be more precise, the popular vote compact disenfranchises a majority of Virginia voters in that situation.
Their votes still count. The need is for Republicans to have candidates who appeal to the majority of the voters instead of going with the current gerrymandering that allows the minority of Republicans to have outsized control of the legislature.
A tiny difference in percentage led to the current Republican president who campaigned on lowering the cost of living and ending wars. Instead he started military attacks on seven different countries, ended no wars, and drove the cost of living faster than Biden did, all while self-dealing himself to wealth. Much of that wealth is from bribes to gain pardons for the very crimes Trump says are so terrible the DoD should be involved, yet those convicted of those same crimes can get out of jail by sending Trump a pile of cash.
I am hoping the independents finally see that the Republicans need to be removed from government at large until they prove they can behave themselves.
I seriously doubt you have any idea what “half of Virginians” think about anything.
I seriously doubt you have any idea what you think about anything. PSYCHO ANON
Obviously that remains to be seen.
Merriam-Webster
republic
1a: a form of government in which the power belongs to a body of citizens ENTITLED TO VOTE and is exercised by the leaders and representatives elected by those citizens to govern according to law
____________________________
Turnout in 1788 was 11.6%; voters must have been male, European, and 21 with 50 lbs. Sterling or 50 acres.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
AI Overview
In 508 BC, with the reforms of Cleisthenes in Athens, roughly 10% to 20% of the total population was allowed to vote. Only free, adult male Athenian citizens, typically over 18 or 20, could participate. This excluded women, slaves, children, and resident foreigners (metics), who constituted the vast majority of the population.
Total Participants: Approximately 30,000 to 40,000 adult male citizens out of an estimated total population of 250,000 to 300,000 in the region of Attica.
Excluded Groups: Women, slaves, children, and metics were entirely excluded from voting in the assembly (Ekklesia).
Context: While the 508 BC reforms marked the beginning of Athenian democracy, it was a system of direct democracy for a small, privileged subset of the population.
@Anonymous
No, she’s doing what those asked in biased polling *think* they want, because they are brain dead. And I do not want these people fleeing to my stable state when it all inevitably goes south.
It’s time to remove humans from the task of drawing congressional districts in order to ensure that biases are not introduced. Toward that end, algorithms have been developed that will draw “neutral” districts in accordance with defined rules regarding, for example, population equality, continuity and compactness. One review of the subject was done several years ago: https://journals.law.unc.edu/ncjolt/blogs/computer-algorithm-can-draw-congressional-district-lines-without-bias/
“What, Me Worry?”
– Alfred E. Neuman, MAD Magazine
He ain’t MAD, he’s right!!!
Big surprise – Spanberger lied. Globalists are now running as Republicans and Independents – we have got to have all our eyes on every single election. Yes, it’s exhausting, but that is the point. We all need to wake up and be on our toes. One election away is no longer hyperbole.
James,
Yes. They run as supposed moderates or centrist Democrats but we see their true colors once they have won the election. Then their totalitarian side comes out, hungry for more and more power and control.
Just goes to show, be leery of a moderate Democrat running for office.
@Upstate
Or the run flat-out as Republicans. No more sleeping through elections or voting (insert party) no matter who.
In 1884, lawyer Robert Ingersoll wrote:
“Nothing discloses real character like the use of power. It is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. This is the supreme test”.
Smell test: Accordung to your judgement, Before Merrick Garland was promoted to AG (done maybe to clear the pass for Ketanji Onyika Brown Jackson to a SCOTUS judge), he was “the perfect man for the job after his distinguished judicial service as a moderate judge.”
Six months later, you were disappointed: “Garland’s tenure as attorney general has shown a pronounced reluctance to take steps that would threaten President Biden. He slow-walked the appointment of a special counsel investigating any Biden, and then excluded from the counsel’s scope any investigation of the massive influence peddling operation by Hunter Biden, his uncle and others.”
https://jonathanturley.org/2024/06/17/the-corruption-of-merrick-garland/
Garland also, unfortunately, made the DOJ a political attack machine to go after persons with a disfavored political views, such as pro-lifers, concerned moms at school board meetings, and traditional Catholics who favor the Latin mass. All of these people, whose views are well within the bounds of reasonable debate, were recast by Garland as domestic terrorists to be treated thuggishly. That, in my view, was one of the most shameful aspects of his tenure as AG.
How many concerned moms at school board meetings did Garland go after?
Feel free to name even one case.
As to reasonable debate, you might try it some time rather than tossing out unsupported accusations and making bad faith arguments.
https://www.grassley.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/judiciary_republicans_to_justice_dept.schoolboardmemo.pdf
This spells out the problem. Garland obliquely went after moms.
A Washington Post-Schar School poll found that 52% of likely voters favor the measure.
Spanberger was elected governor in 2025 by a landslide 15-point margin, the largest for a Democrat in decades. Supporters view this as a mandate to enact her party’s legislative agenda, which included these redistricting reforms.
Isn’t that the same reasoning Republicans use to justify their own gerrymandering? Seems like it’s more of a ‘turnabout is fair play’ kind of thing and Republicans don’t like it when the other side does the same thing they see as ‘fair’.
Unlike typical gerrymanders drawn in secret, the proposed map was passed by the General Assembly and signed into law before the referendum. This allows voters to see exactly what they are voting for—a 10-1 Democratic-leaning map—before casting their ballot.
Supporters argue that Virginia is responding to aggressive mid-decade redistricting in GOP-led states like Texas and Missouri. Governor Spanberger has stated the move is a direct response to President Trump’s claims of being “entitled” to more Republican seats before the 2026 midterms.
You can blame president Trump if Republicans are complying about this being a ‘power grab’. None of this would even be happening if it weren’t for Trump’s and Republicans need to cheat to get an advantage. Especially now that Republican chances of retaining the house and senate are slipping away.
The problem with Virginia is the growth of the federal bureaucracy, which has filled NoVa with Democrats, natural members of thd Civil Service. This is warping the politics of this old Confederate state. Conservatives are reduced to living in West Virginia.
In my opinion, a fair-distrits constitutional amendment is needed. Partisan gerrymandering has become a political game completely unconnected with the public welfare.
The amendment should say that politically-neutral metrics govern in drawing a congressional map, namely: compactness, contiguity, rough equality of population, and minimizing the splitting of political subdivisions (counties, cities, etc.).
What you propose is that every district have exactly the same political composition as the entire state.
This gives the majority, no matter how slight, 100% of the state legislature and 100% of the House and the Electoral College.
I have the feeling you would contest this for majority Democratic Party states as unfair to Republicans.
I find no fault with Spamberger (sp). She was selected for what she is. Duplicitous. My gripe is that she seems so pleased with about it, as if saying, “I don’t care a flip what you think. I’m in and you’re out.” Treachery to the max; a perverse honesty, I guess.
Remember when Obama said “elections have consequences?” Sadly, they do. Self first. Party second. Maybe country third. That the Dems’ priorities.
Remember when Obama committed treason, subversion and sedition as well as election interference against the opposition candidate and subsequent sitting President? When is he going to be held accountable?
In recent centuries in England, acts to disparage and challenge the authority of the king were considered treason and penalized by Drawing and Quartering.
Remember when President Obama did none of those things, but the DoJ was trying to figure out who all the Russian spies were talking to inside the Trump campaign? That was the finding of the bipartisan Congressional investigation during Trump’s first term.
gdonaldallen,
Yes, the in your face treachery is quite galling.
Giddy-up, U-Haul!
I’m in the process of moving to West Va. The Commonwealth of Va turns 250 years old on June 29th. The Democrats are destroying the oldest democracy in the new world.
No doubt. Starting with Roanoke more than 500 years ago. (Seems plausible, anyway.)
Jonathan, there is an obvious error in your story, i.e., you write that Spanberger “…was widely criticized for running as a moderate but then veering to the far right as soon as she was elected.” You meant to write FAR LEFT, not far right.
” but then veering to the far right as soon as she was elected”; you meant Far-Left, but otherwise totally agree with your position.
Did you proof read this: “Even before this vote, she was widely criticized for running as a moderate but then veering to the far right as soon as she was elected”
Probably a Freudian slip