Virginia's congressional districts

Virginia is currently divided into 11 congressional districts, each represented by a member of the United States House of Representatives. The districts were redrawn most recently in 2016 by court order.

Virginia's congressional districts since 2017

Current districts and representatives

List of members of the Virginian United States House delegation, their terms, their district boundaries, and the districts' political rating according to the CPVI. The delegation has a total of 11 members, with 7 Democrats and 4 Republicans as of 2018. The 3rd and 4th districts of Virginia have been redrawn by U.S. District Court order and sustained by the Supreme Court on appeal. See map above for the current boundaries of these districts.

District Representative Party CPVI Incumbency District map
1st Rob Wittman (R-Montross) Republican R+8 December 11, 2007 – present
2nd Elaine Luria (D-Norfolk) Democratic R+3 January 3, 2019 – present
3rd Bobby Scott (D-Newport News) Democratic D+16 January 3, 1993 – present
4th Donald McEachin (D-Richmond) Democratic D+10 January 3, 2017 – present
5th Denver Riggleman (R-Nellysford) Republican R+6 January 3, 2019 – present
6th Ben Cline (R-Lexington) Republican R+13 January 3, 2019 – present
7th Abigail Spanberger (D-Glen Allen) Democratic R+6 January 3, 2019 – present
8th Don Beyer (D-Alexandria) Democratic D+21 January 3, 2015 – present
9th Morgan Griffith (R-Salem) Republican R+19 January 3, 2011 – present
10th Jennifer Wexton (D-Leesburg) Democratic D+1 January 3, 2019 – present
11th Gerry Connolly (D-Mantua) Democratic D+15 January 3, 2009 – present

Historical background

Apportionment

The apportionment of seats for the House of Representatives between the states is determined following each census. The number of seats to which Virginia has been entitled is as follows:

1789 1790 1800
10[1] 19 22
1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900
23 22 21 15 13 11 9[2] 10 10 10
1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
10 10 9 9 10 10 10 10 11 11
2010
11

List of former and current districts

District boundaries 1973-2017

Table of United States congressional district boundary maps in the State of Virginia, are presented chronologically below for the most recent iterations following the redistricting of the 1960s, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that congressional and state legislative districts had to satisfy the one man, one vote criteria for equal representation. The state legislature had long delayed redistricting, leading to outsize influence by rural districts and under-representation of urban areas.[4] All redistricting events that took place in Virginia between 1973 and 2013 are shown.

Year Statewide map Norfolk highlight
1973–1982
1983–1992
1993–1994
1995–1998
1999–2002
2003–2013
2013–2017

Gerrymandering

Virginia was one of the most gerrymandered states in the country, both on the congressional and state levels, based on lack of compactness and contiguity of its districts. Virginia congressional districts were ranked the 5th worst in the country because counties and cities were broken into multiple pieces to create heavily partisan districts.[5]

Virginia's congressional districts did not meet the "competitive" mark of a 5% margin of victory, but they averaged a margin of 35%, comparable to the national district statistical average of all 435 districts. Districts 10 and 11 in northern Virginia and the 2nd in the Hampton Roads ranged between 16–18%. Virginia, like the nation as a whole, had about 73% of its delegation winning by a margin of 20% or more. Districts 4, 7, 5, 1 and 8 ranged from 22–32%, and three outliers had a margin of victory of more than 50%: the 9th at 48%, the 6th at 62%, and the 3rd at 89%.[6]

Reform efforts

The Redistricting Coalition of Virginia recommended reforms, including either an independent commission or a bipartisan commission that is not polarized. Member organizations include the League of Women Voters of Virginia, AARP of Virginia, OneVirginia2021 , the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and Virginia Organizing.[7]

The Independent Bipartisan Advisory Commission on Redistricting for the Commonwealth of Virginia made its report on April 1, 2011. It made recommendations for both state legislative and congressional district redistricting, detailing three options for congressional districts, all improving on the 2001 congressional map by reducing the number of split jurisdictions, defining three districts in the DC metro northern Virginia area, and increasing compactness in each district. In accordance with the Voting Rights Act, it maintained one majority African-American district without packing to dilute community influence in other districts.[8]

In 2011, the Virginia College and University Redistricting Competition was organized by professors Michael McDonald of George Mason University and Quentin Kidd of Christopher Newport University. About 150 students on sixteen teams from thirteen schools submitted plans for legislative and U.S. congressional districts. The winning submissions for the congressional redistricting were from the University of Virginia and from the College of William and Mary. The "Division 1" maps conformed to the Governor's Executive Order, and did not address electoral competition or representational fairness. In addition to the criteria of contiguity, equi-population, the federal Voting Rights Act, and communities of interest in the existing city and county boundaries, "Division 2" maps in the competition did incorporate considerations of electoral competition and representational fairness. Judges for the cash award prizes were Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution and Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute. They also created districts more compact than the General Assembly's earlier efforts.[9]

In January 2015, Republican State Senator Jill Holtzman Vogel of Winchester and Democratic State Senator Louise Lucas of Portsmouth sponsored a Senate Joint Resolution to establish additional criteria for the Virginia Redistricting Commission of four identified members of political parties, and three other independent public officials. The criteria began with respecting existing political boundaries, such as cities and towns, counties and magisterial districts, election districts and voting precincts. Districts are to be established on the basis of population, in conformance with federal and state laws and court cases, including those addressing racial fairness. The territory is to be contiguous and compact, without oddly shaped boundaries. The commission is prohibited from using political data or election results to favor either political party or incumbent. It passed with a two-thirds majority of 27 to 12 in the Senate, and was referred to committee in the House of Delegates.[10]

2016 redistricting

The redistricting of congressional districts prepared by the Virginia legislature, the Virginia General Assembly, in 2012 was used in the 2014 elections. The redistricting was found unconstitutional and replaced with a court-ordered redistricting on January 16, 2016, before the 2016 elections.[11][12][13][14][15] Gloria Personhuballah and James Farkas claimed that Virginia's 3rd congressional district violated the Voting Rights Act by packing black voters into the district for the political purpose of making surrounding areas better for Republican candidates. Following Supreme Court precedent, the Eastern Virginia Circuit Court found that U.S. congressional districts cannot be gerrymandered by race for partisan gain. In this case, the twisting non-contiguous 3rd district hopped the James River in several places and divided multiple locality boundaries, resulting in 89% majorities for black Representative Bobby Scott (D) while surrounding Republican incumbents enjoyed majorities of 16–24%. Subsequent appeals by Republican lawmakers to the Supreme Court were unsuccessful.[16]

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See also

References
  1. Represents apportionment assigned by the U.S. Constitution in 1789 until the first U.S. Census.
  2. West Virginia was formed out of portions of Virginia in 1863.
  3. US Census. "My Congressional District (estimates)". US Census. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
  4. "Digital Boundary Definitions of United States Congressional Districts, 1789–2012". Retrieved October 18, 2014.
  5. One Virginia 2021: Virginians for fair redistricting viewed October 13, 2016.
  6. "Redistricting in Virginia", Ballotpedia, the Encyclopedia of American Politics, viewed October 14, 2016.
  7. the virginia redistricting coalition viewed October 13, 2016.
  8. The Public Interest in Redistricting Bob Holsworth, Chair for the Independent Bipartisan Advisory Commission on Redistricting, Commonwealth of Virginia, April 1, 2011, p.22-27.
  9. The Public Interest in Redistricting Bob Holsworth, Chair for the Independent Bipartisan Advisory Commission on Redistricting, Commonwealth of Virginia, April 1, 2011, p.9-10
  10. SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 284 AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE (Proposed by the Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections on January 20, 2015) (Patrons Prior to Substitute—Senators Vogel and Lucas [SJR 224])
  11. Court Ordered Redistricting
  12. "Personnhuballah v. Alcorn, Court Order" (PDF). virginia.gov. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
  13. Weaver, Dustin (21 March 2016). "Supreme Court weighs legality of Virginia redistricting". thehill.com. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
  14. Ruger, Todd; Ruger, Todd (1 February 2016). "Supreme Court Allows Virginia Redistricting to Stand in 2016". Retrieved 7 April 2018 – via www.rollcall.com.
  15. Times-Dispatch, ANDREW CAIN Richmond. "Judges impose new Va. congressional map, redrawing 3rd, 4th Districts". richmond.com. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
  16. Supreme Court weighs legality of Virginia redistricting, The Hill online viewed October 16, 2016, Redistricting in Virginia, Ballotpedia, the Encyclopedia of American Politics, viewed October 14, 2016.
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