Jeffries after Democratic redistricting loss in VA: ‘We remain undeterred’

WASHINGTON (TNND) — House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Monday after Democrats’ redistricting loss in Virginia, “We remain undeterred.”

Last week, the Virginia Supreme Court struck down Democrats’ congressional map that would have given them a 10-1 advantage over Republicans in the commonwealth’s U.S. House delegation.

In a letter to fellow Democrats, Jeffries wrote, “Our effort to forcefully push back against the Republican redistricting scheme will not slow down. We are just getting started,” The Hill reported.

He explained that Democrats will launch a multi-pronged “counteroffensive” that includes new redistricting efforts in blue states, new lawsuits against GOP-drawn congressional maps in red states, and a messaging push designed to fault President Trump for rising costs and help flip the House in November’s midterms.

Jeffries said the House Democratic Caucus will meet on Thursday to create a plan “to advance the largest voter protection effort in modern American history.”

“We will ensure the people decide who controls the Congress, not MAGA extremists desperate to rig the midterm elections,” he wrote.

California is the only blue state that was able to successfully redraw its congressional map, giving Democrats five more seats for the November elections. Other blue states are unable to redistrict before the midterm elections.

Virginia Democrats have appealed the state Supreme Court’s ruling, but the U.S. Supreme Court will likely let the decision stand.

“[I]n connection with the ongoing Republican effort to cheat in advance of the 2028 election, we will bury the GOP gerrymandering scheme with a massive Democratic redistricting counteroffensive,” Jeffries wrote.

Still, Jeffries is also pointing to more immediate Democratic efforts to counteract the effects of both the Virginia ruling, which eliminated four Democratic-leaning seats, and an earlier decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to void key parts of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which could wipe out several other Democratic seats across the South.

Democrats are also looking to fight additional GOP redistricting following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last month to weaken Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

“Led by the Congressional Black Caucus and national civil rights groups, Democrats are battling Jim Crow-era racial gerrymandering throughout the Deep South,” Jeffries wrote. “Simultaneously, there is pending litigation in Virginia, Florida, Missouri and Wisconsin. States like New York, Maryland, Colorado, Washington and several others are taking steps to decisively respond to what the U.S. Supreme Court has unleashed.”

“Given the highly unfavorable political environment confronting House Republicans, the extremists will not meaningfully benefit from their scandalous gerrymandering scheme,” he added. “Quite the opposite. Democratic enthusiasm and resolve have grown more intense.

“Even after being aided and abetted by blatantly undemocratic court decisions, the failed GOP majority will not be able to gerrymander themselves back into power.”