The Virginia General Assembly on Thursday approved a new plan to redraw the state’s 140 legislative districts, avoiding an unpredictable and drawn-out court battle that could have followed Gov. Bob McDonnell’s veto of its first plan.
Lawmakers had to return to Richmond this week to redraw the map because McDonnell objected to a Senate plan that he said potentially violated federal election laws and garnered no Republican support.
Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax, initially resisted McDonnell’s call to alter the map, setting up the possibility that the courts would have to settle the matter, an unpredictable, time-consuming process that could have forced the state to delay its August primary elections.
But a bipartisan group of senators huddled throughout the week to tweak the lines in an attempt to satisfy both the governor and the law.
“Each side wanted more than they got, but we were able to reach an agreement and produce a map that meets state and federal requirements including special attention to the requirements of the Voting Rights Act,” Saslaw said.
McDonnell said he would sign the legislation as soon as it reached his desk, and noted that with lawsuits currently pending that request court-drawn lines, there was no time to waste.
Virginia is one of a handful of states that must have its redistricting plans approved by the Justice Department because of a history of racial discrimination.
The House plan adds three new seats in Northern Virginia, and the Senate plan shifts a seat to Northern Virginia to accommodate the population shift.
The 31st District in Northern Virginia, held by the retiring Mary Margaret Whipple, D-Arlington, would still stretch out from Arlington County through Fairfax all the way to Loudoun, as it did in the previously approved plan.
