The ink has barely dried on Virginia’s constitutional amendment of 2020, taking districting powers away from politicians and putting it in the hands of a bipartisan commission. Yet another referendum is already on the ballot to reverse the decision.
In a strong case of buyer’s remorse, Democratic lawmakers are seeking to reverse the measure later this month. This is an enormous setback for American politics and any hopes to de-escalate polarization.
But let me step back for a moment. The quality of America’s relationships — family, friendships, networks, and neighborliness — is all in sharp decline. A growing relationship drought has drained societal trust, now at historic lows: not just in the federal government, but all big institutions and each other.
VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS TURN THEMSELVES INTO PRETZELS TO ‘STOP DONALD TRUMP’ WITH GERRYMANDER
One cause of this distrust is a preoccupation with national politics. As scholars such as Robert Putnam note, many nonprofit organizations have shifted away from local membership and services toward centralized fundraising operations in Washington, D.C. This shift weakens local support networks and capacity, creating greater dependence on national solutions to local problems. In turn, D.C.-focused actors push getting national politics “right” as a substitute for local problem-solving. Compounding this trend is the rise of mega-donors. While overall giving has increased, it masks a decline in participation from ordinary donors.
We see this happening in Virginia right now. In 2020, voters across the commonwealth — by a margin approaching two to one with a 70% turnout — approved a constitutional amendment to take redistricting out of the hands of politicians and place it in a bipartisan commission. It was not a narrow reform. It carried broad support across regions and parties. It represented, in a polarized age, a rare act of civic unity: the public, weary of partisan mapmaking, demanded a fairer system.
In Richmond, Democratic lawmakers have moved to reclaim the power that voters explicitly removed from them. Couched in the language of a temporary emergency measure, the substance is unmistakable: a return to partisan control of congressional maps.
Besides the most egregious concern — ignoring a massive referendum result and attempting to silence voters who disagree with you — this is a particularly disastrous ploy both nationally and locally.
The framing of the April vote is about “fairness”. But this is not about balancing unfairness across districts in Virginia. Rather, gerrymandering is being justified as balancing gerrymandering elsewhere. Even the Washington Post editorial board described the current proposal as “brazenly dishonest” in its presentation to voters.
This framing severs the link between voter and state. Such a move will set about a deterioration of Virginia’s robust social capital health. Virginia has seen growth in volunteering, neighborliness, and small donors giving locally since 2020. According to a 2023 survey, 70% of Virginians report helping a neighbor in the last month. Two-thirds of Virginians volunteer formally, and 64% do so more than once a month, focusing on youth, education, food pantries, churches and religious organizations, hospitals and healthcare, or neighborhood organizations.
Virginians vote at higher rates than the national average, with voter turnout ranging from 42.4% to 75.08% over the last ten years. But faith in local government is small. Only a quarter of Virginians feel that bringing issues before their local government would be an effective action to take, with fewer than a quarter surveyed saying they attended a public meeting.
In a Commonwealth where so much goodwill, neighborliness, and volunteering stand in such stark contrast to belief in local government, depleting trust in the Assembly on such small margins is consequential. After all, only two-thirds of Americans trust their state to run a fair election nowadays.
Yet by comparison with national institutions, trust at the local level remains higher for government–as well as for media, business, churches, and nonprofits. Rebuilding America’s much-frayed social capital begins with your neighbor. Democrats silencing their independent or Republican voting neighbors’ votes–reducing a 5-10 percentage point difference in statewide voting preference to a 90 percentage point difference in congressional representation–does not help with this effort.
If Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) wants to bring about fairness nationally, she would best abandon her gerrymandering efforts, take her eyes off of national politics, respect the difference between federal and state elections, and work to serve all 9 million Virginians by respecting their votes.
REJECT VIRGINIA’S ELECTION-RIGGING CONSTITUTIONAL REDISTRICTING AMENDMENT
After the Civil War, a deeply polarized citizenry, previously fixated on events in Washington, D.C., turned its gaze to rebuilding America at the municipal level. That is what is needed in America today.
This should be the Assembly’s focus if it really wants to help America’s politics and trust in its institutions. To urgently abandon a D.C. focus, and instead to embrace Virginians’ willingness to help each other as a Commonwealth. Only by embracing local social trust can fears of national polarization be eased.
Chris Bullivant is a Senior Fellow at the Social Capital Campaign in Charlottesville, VA. @chrisbullivant
