The task of drawing up new legislative maps for the House of Delegates and state Senate will go to the state Supreme Court, after the newly established Virginia Redistricting Commission failed to agree on proposed General Assembly maps by the October 10 deadline.

After voters approved a new amendment to the state constitution last year, redistricting in Virginia is currently being handled for the first time by a bipartisan commission consisting of eight state legislators and eight citizens split evenly by political party. When data from the 2020 census was released this summer, the Commission had 45 days to draw up new maps for the General Assembly, and 60 days to come up with new Congressional maps. 

Those 45 days came and went without producing a compromise map. Negotiations broke down along party lines after a week of public hearings. 

On October 8, the Commission’s Democrats voted to propose a compromise, putting forward a Republican-drawn map for the House of Delegates and a Democratic-drawn map for the state Senate. Republicans defeated that measure, preferring to keep a Republican-drawn Senate map as an option. Republicans on the Commission said the public was not given a chance to comment on the Democratic-drawn Senate map, and that it appeared to be gerrymandered.

At this point, Democratic co-chair Greta Harris walked out of the meeting and was soon followed by two other Democratic citizen commissioners, James Abrenio and Brandon Hutchins. Lacking a quorum, the Commission adjourned its meeting. No proposed General Assembly maps were approved by the Commission before the October 10 deadline.

The Commission resumed work last Monday, but is now solely focused on developing new Congressional maps. Members of the Commission seemed more optimistic about the chances of agreeing on Congressional maps before the October 25 deadline. This is partly because incumbent residency is no longer a factor; members of Congress aren’t required to live within the districts they represent. 

Similar to the Redistricting Commission, the Supreme Court must consider geographic compactness as well as voting rights when they create new General Assembly maps. The justices will not draw maps themselves, but will rather select two experts from a list of nominees selected by each political party. Known as “special masters,” these experts have 30 days after receiving order from the court to file their proposed maps. The public will have the opportunity to submit written comments to the Supreme Court regarding redistricting.