{"id":31421,"date":"2026-04-18T10:37:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T10:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/31421\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T10:37:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T10:37:11","slug":"trump-hands-off-in-virginia-redistricting-fight-despite-gop-pressure-sources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/31421\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump hands-off in Virginia redistricting fight despite GOP pressure: Sources"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump<\/a> seems unlikely to insert himself into the ongoing redistricting fight in Virginia, despite requests from Republican leadership to campaign against the referendum<\/a> vote next week.<\/p>\n

According to two Trump world insiders, the White House has been under steady pressure from Republican officials, including House Speaker Mike Johnson<\/a> (R-LA), to do more to campaign against a Democratic-led constitutional amendment. If the Tuesday amendment is passed, it would allow the Democratic state legislature to temporarily bypass a bipartisan commission and redraw the state\u2019s congressional map ahead of November\u2019s midterm elections.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) and the Democrat-controlled state legislature approved a map that would shift Virginia\u2019s 11 congressional districts from a 6-5 Democratic split to a 10-1 Democratic majority.<\/p>\n

However, according to sources, the president himself likely won\u2019t travel or cut ads to meet Johnson\u2019s request.<\/p>\n

\"VirginiaVirginia Democrats\u2019 proposed 10-1 map preserves the broad outlines of some existing districts but redistributes how the population is grouped across much of the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was hearing there was a lot of pressure on the White House to be more involved. I think it was coming from the speaker \u2014 that essentially these next [few] days have to be fully focused on making sure this does not pass,\u201d one former Trump White House official told the Washington Examiner. \u201cI\u2019m assuming [Trump\u2019s involvement] will only come in the form of a Truth [Social post]. I have not heard of any plans to travel to the Commonwealth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a very real chance that President Trump getting involved might galvanize an even greater turnout among Democrats,\u201d a longtime, out-of-government Trump advisor added. \u201cI expect him to sit this one out, especially after the public embarrassment we saw in Indiana last time,\u201d referring to the failed redistricting attempt in the state last year that aimed to further tilt Indiana\u2019s congressional map in Republicans\u2019 favor.<\/p>\n

White House officials declined to answer questions about Trump\u2019s plans surrounding the referendum. Johnson\u2019s office similarly declined to comment on Trump\u2019s lack of involvement but did not deny pressuring the White House to publicly oppose the measure.<\/p>\n

Vice President JD Vance briefly addressed the subject during a Turning Point USA event at the University of Georgia this week, calling on Virginia voters to oppose \u201cthe Obama-Spangberger redistricting plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cVote against it,\u201d the vice president said in response to a question on the topic. \u201cAnd frankly, the polls are moving in our direction a little bit. We just got to get out there and defeat that ballot measure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Republicans, minus the White House\u2019s \u201clight touch,\u201d are throwing \u201ceverything but the kitchen sink\u201d at killing the referendum, as one veteran GOP operative described the situation, with Johnson and former Republican Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin working double time on the issue.<\/p>\n

\"AbigailAbigail Spanberger, then the Democratic governor-elect of Virginia, during an interview, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, in Richmond, Virginia. (AP Photo\/Steve Helber)<\/p>\n

The pair headlined a rally this month opposing the gerrymandering push, pulling in half a million dollars.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a 10-1 state,\u201d Johnson said during the rally in Great Falls. \u201cThey want to redraw the maps so that there\u2019s 10 Democrats and only one Republican representing the state of Virginia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Youngkin has also been featured in the region in an ad campaign, airing on television and digital platforms, calling on Virginians to vote down the referendum.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, Republican-friendly judicial groups, led by Honest Elections Project Action, submitted a brief to the Virginia Supreme Court this week, hoping to invalidate the amendment itself if approved during Tuesday\u2019s vote. Opponents argue the amendment is illegal as Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) and state Democrats originally passed the measure during an extended special session of the legislature.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at what the Constitution of Virginia requires and what the law requires, it\u2019s very clear that what happened here was an illegally extended special session that essentially turned a part-time legislature into a full-time one,\u201d Honest Elections Project Executive Director Jason Snead said of the brief in an interview with Fox News Digital on Friday. \u201cThey kept it open for nearly two years and then used that to push through a constitutional amendment \u2014 and we think that\u2019s a blatant violation of the limits the Constitution puts on legislative power.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"HouseHouse Speaker Mike Johnson, left, speaks with President Donald Trump during a roundtable discussion on college sports in the White House on Friday, March 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/p>\n

But just like Republicans, Democrats have also fully leaned into the issue and raised significantly more money to do so \u2014 some $50 million as of Tuesday.<\/p>\n

And on top of Spanberger\u2019s public support, Democrats are getting an A-lister lift that could only possibly be countered by Trump himself.<\/p>\n

Former President Barack Obama published a video, first shared with ABC News, on Friday morning, calling on Virginians to support Spanberger\u2019s redrawn map.<\/p>\n

TRUMP\u2019S HORMUZ BLOCKADE UNLIKELY TO DRAW CHINA INTO IRAN WAR<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBy voting yes, you can push back against the Republicans trying to give themselves an unfair advantage in the midterms,\u201d Obama said in the minute-long spot. \u201cBy voting yes, you can take a temporary step to level the playing field. And we\u2019re counting on you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recent polls published by George Mason University, Quantus Insights, and Virginia\u2019s State Navigate all show the referendum passing by 5 points or less.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump seems unlikely to insert himself into the ongoing redistricting fight in Virginia, despite requests from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[143],"tags":[17941,49,477,12,15625,478,1187,1287,479,987],"class_list":["post-31421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mike-johnson","tag-abigail-spanberger","tag-barack-obama","tag-congress","tag-donald-trump","tag-glenn-youngkin","tag-mike-johnson","tag-redistricting","tag-virginia","tag-washington-d-c","tag-white-house"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116425277283171737","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}