Virginia Lt. Gov. Windsome Earle-Sears decried state Democrats’ attempts to fast-track the redistricting of the state, saying it was illegal.
On Monday, the Republican gubernatorial candidate held an impromptu press conference on the steps of the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond. She denounced the attempts by the legislature to push through a new Virginia constitutional amendment.
“Virginians deserve transparency, fairness, and integrity in their elections. They deserve to know that no matter who holds office, their vote will count the same as anyone else’s,” she said. “I left the campaign trail because my duty is here, in this building, with the people’s Senate. I gave my word to fight for Virginians, to defend their rights and their honor, and that is exactly what I am doing.”
“Well, the people have to make that decision,” Earle-Sears said when asked if she would support a constitutional amendment to redraw the state’s congressional districts. “But it is not in its proper form. It is not in its proper process. It is not — in any way, shape, or form — legal. So what we’re not going to do is speculate on what is not properly before us.”
Earle-Sears claimed that her opponent in the Virginia governor’s race, Abigail Spanberger, could put a stop to the effort but was choosing not to.
“I can’t do it. But you know, who can? Abigail Spanberger is still going to be able to be on the campaign trail; that’s if she’s not in her basement,” she said.
Earle-Sears then hinted at possible global implications if the Democratic effort was successful.
“And by the way, as we all know, this race, the world is watching. And what are we saying to the world, that if you don’t like a constitutional amendment that the people have voted for, just get rid of it,” she said. “So now, Mr. Chairman, that all of our constitutional amendments are up for grabs and changed at the will of politicians, the Democrats, is that what we’re looking at?”
“No, it shall never happen, not under my watch. Not under our current elected bodies. Watch, it will never happen. The will of the people must prevail,” Earle-Sears added.
Virginia was caught in the nationwide redistricting arms race, triggered in August by an aggressive redistricting push by the state’s dominant Republicans. According to Virginia law, for the congressional map to be redrawn, a constitutional amendment must be approved in two consecutive sessions of the General Assembly, broken by an election in the middle.
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If the amendment is passed this week, another vote could be held after Jan. 14 for the next legislature, and then it would go to a statewide referendum. In the current time frame, the new districts could hypothetically be approved by mid-April.
A bipartisan initiative to create Virginia’s Independent Redistricting Commission went through the legislature in 2019 and was overwhelmingly passed in a referendum the following year.
