VA Gov. Defends Redistricting as ‘Temporary, Responsive Effort’ to Counteract Trump Saying He Was ‘Entitled’ to More Seats

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) defended the redistricting referendum in her state as a “temporary, responsive effort” that was necessary to counteract President Donald Trump saying he was “entitled” to additional Republican House seats in Texas.

Tuesday evening, the results of the vote were called with “Yes” gaining a narrow majority, and multiple media outlets projecting a victory for a referendum that would redraw Virginia’s congressional maps in a far more favorable direction for the Democrats.

Virginia’s election was the latest shifting of congressional district lines sparked by a push from Trump in red states, starting in Texas, to conduct a rare mid-decade redistricting to advantage the GOP. Predictably, the redistricting in Texas was cheered by Republicans but they booed the Virginia results, and the reverse was true for Democrats. Trump was especially incensed, posting on his Truth Social account that it was a “RIGGED ELECTION” and “Crooked Victory!”

In the aftermath of the election, the Cook Political Report revised their ratings for Virginia from 3 Solid R, 1 Lean R, 1 Toss Up, and 5 Solid D to now 1 Solid R, 1 Lean D, 1 Likely D, and 8 Solid D.

Spanberger appeared on Wednesday’s episode of The Situation Room on CNN and was interviewed by anchor Wolf Blitzer about the redistricting. A transcript of their conversation is below:

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: And joining us now, the Democratic governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Abigail Spanberger…What was your immediate reaction when you learned last night that the voters in Virginia had approved the redistricting referendum that you supported?

GOV. ABIGAIL SPANBERGER (D-VA): So, when we found the results out, I was really excited, but not surprised, because it’s been clear for a number of months that Virginians were really motivated to take this temporary responsive stance, and to do so by voting yes in our referendum.

BLITZER: With about 99 percent of the vote now counted in Virginia, the yes votes stand at about 51 percent, the no votes stand at about 48 percent.

That’s just a three-point difference in Virginia, whereas you defeated your Republican opponent in the governor’s race by more than 15 points just last year. Were you at all surprised that the margin of victory this time wasn’t larger?

SPANBERGER: I wasn’t.

Virginia is a purple state. And my election in November, that was the outlier number. I was competing all across the state for a long period of time, talking about a whole host of different issues. And, notably, this April referendum was just an up-or-down vote on a referendum.

So, we had a lot of work to do to make sure people understood what this vote was, when and how to vote, and, importantly, that it was temporary, responsive, and that the maps were available to them.

And Virginia typically — Virginia typically has a much — and, frankly, the referendum vote margin is greater than the 2021 gubernatorial victory margin. So, it’s — it’s aligned with what we’re typically more accustomed to seeing in Virginia.

BLITZER: Democrats potentially, Governor, could now win more than 90 percent of the districts in the Commonwealth Of Virginia that Kamala Harris won with just 52 percent of the vote back in 2024.

Critics say this ballot measure allows politicians to choose their voters, instead of the other way around. How do you respond to that criticism?

SPANBERGER: Well, I think that that’s fair criticism of places like Texas, where it was the legislature that pushed through a redistricting effort without any buy-in from the people.

Here in the Commonwealth of Virginia, certainly, it was the General Assembly that drew the maps, but the maps were made available to the public. And so the public, when we Virginians went to the polls, we knew exactly what it is that we were voting for or against.

And, importantly, I think an important piece is that these districts, you said they could be won by Democrats, and that is a correct way to phrase it, because, in fact, these districts — there are now five districts within the Commonwealth of Virginia where, based on historical numbers, they have a single-digit area of potential victory.

And so that’s five competitive seats, frankly, compared to the two that we have right now, one being held by a Democrat and one held by a Republican.

And so it will mean a lot of work on the candidates who are running to make sure that they go all across their new districts to earn every single vote, both in the primary later this summer and in the general election in November.

BLITZER: And, as you’ve pointed out, Governor, Virginia was not the first place to do this, and it won’t be the last, by all accounts.

Florida’s Republican-controlled legislature is slated to meet to consider new U.S. House maps and could target as many as five Democratic-held seats. Will we ever be able to put this lid back on the can of worms, or will the U.S. be in a perpetual redistricting arms race right now down the — down the road?

SPANBERGER: I think it really depends on leadership from the top.

I mean, importantly, this all began because President Trump said he — quote — “was entitled” to more congressional seats and implored his friends in Texas to make that happen for him. And then members of the General Assembly obliged without any public buy-in.

And, certainly, I think what we — what we know to be true here in Virginia is, we are pleased that this referendum passed. But, even for people like me, I supported it, vocally campaigned for it, but I want us to return — as is prescribed in our legislation, I want us to return to our bipartisan Redistricting Commission after the 2030 census.

And so I think returning to whether it’s commissions like we have in Virginia or other good governance and redistricting priorities, frankly, I’d love to see Congress take that up as a priority to ensure that there is bipartisan or nonpartisan — different states have different options — that there’s community input in the redistricting process.

That will be the case in Virginia. We are not just committed to it in words, but, in fact, the legislation of the referendum prescribes specifically that it is temporary, responsive, and preserves our bipartisan commission, which will take over after the 2030 census for our next redistricting.

BLITZER: I hear the point, Governor, that you’re making about President Trump initiating this redistricting battle by calling for Texas, early on, Texas Republicans to redraw their maps, Democrats wanting to counter those efforts by doing what you’re doing in Virginia, to be sure, and California as well.

But what do you say to the critics who simply feel like two wrongs don’t necessarily make a right?

SPANBERGER: I hear them. And I won’t argue with that point.

But I think that the people of Virginia, when looking at the landscape of what is occurring across the country, the people of Virginia said, we want to take this temporary, responsive effort, and we want to respond to what we see other states doing at the request of this president.

And, importantly, across the November elections, where I expect that we will see a substantial wave election, both not just as a rebuke of President Trump and his failed policies, and yet another war in the Middle East, and rising gas costs, and no effort to try and impact lives of everyday Americans, I think we will see a wave election, where new people from across the country are elected to represent their communities in the halls of Congress.

Those voices holding this administration accountable will be so important. And, importantly, the sort of tragedy and the reality of it all is that even members of our Republican delegation here from the Commonwealth of Virginia said nothing, absolutely nothing, when Texas made moves, when North Carolina made moves.

It was only when their electoral fate seemed that it might be jeopardized that they chose to speak up. And so I think Virginians saw that. We also saw tens of millions of dollars in lies put on television, saying that I was supportive of a no-vote, that President Obama was supportive of a no-vote.

And, frankly, across Virginia, I heard from people saying: I wasn’t sure how I was going to vote. Then I saw those lies, and that’s all they do is games and tricks.

And so I think, frankly, some of the mechanics of how the no-vote actually tried to trick people here in the Commonwealth of Virginia made people feel really fed up with the current state of things here in the Commonwealth. The option was with people as to whether or not we wanted to take this temporary, responsive effort to push back.

And the people chose yes.

BLITZER: I know you campaigned for governor as a moderate seeking to represent all Virginians, but what do you say to constituents who feel this ballot measure was partisan and only serves the interests of the Democratic Party?

SPANBERGER: I think that I — there’s a broad array of things that I campaigned on, from affordability issues, lowering costs of housing, health care, energy, strengthening our agriculture and our wood product industries here in Virginia, where agriculture is our number one private industry and forestry is number three, ensuring that I am listening to people across the commonwealth.

And there are many bills and many priorities that I am going to support that a whole host of Virginians will support. And there may be some that not everybody does.

And so, for those who might have disagreed with me on this referendum, I — there are many other opportunities for them to look at my body of work as governor, the work that I am doing as governor, and see in that work that I am working for them and, importantly, for the commonwealth as a whole.

BLITZER: Are you enjoying being governor?

SPANBERGER: I am loving being governor. I love our Commonwealth, and this job is the best.

BLITZER: Well, good luck to you, and thanks so much for joining us, Governor Abigail Spanberger of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Appreciate it very much.

SPANBERGER: Thanks.

Watch the clip above via CNN.

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