Redistricting Negotiations broke down along party lines after a week of public hearings

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.

[Virginia Public Media] Data: Virginia’s Early Childhood Education Providers Are Succeeding

By VOW Ops • January 21, 2026
The second year of results from Virginia’s recently established Quality Establishment and Improvement System (VQB5) for early childhood education found that 99% of childcare providers receiving state funding meet or exceed quality expectations. As of early December 2025, over 154,000 views have been recorded on the system’s website since its October 2024 debut, revealing the many parents and families who appreciate the information that VQB5 offers them. None of these wonderful results would even be available to admire without the support and success we had in passing HB 1012 and SB 578 back in 2020! The data focuses on classroom interactions between children and caregivers and notes how said interactions encourage kids to express themselves at a young age. The state has also enacted categories of excellence for providers who score in the top 10%, exceed quality expectations, or even show significant improvement from an evaluation the year before. On top of that, a new data system called VAConnects helps integrate information on students over the years to track their learning progress. The Department of Education wishes to sustain the program and has requested $735,000 to do so. Overall, Virginia is serving as a model for other states to use in establishing best practices for their early childhood programs. Read more here .

[Richmond Times Dispatch] Virginians want General Assembly Action on Housing, Survey Finds

By VOW Ops • January 21, 2026
An August survey reveals that large majorities of Virginians want state lawmakers to address the rising cost of housing. The survey was conducted by Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia and Freedom Virginia. More than 8 in 10 Virginians said the General Assembly needs to act. More than 3 in 4 Virginians want lawmakers to prevent landlords from raising rents each year by more than 7%. Many Virginians also supported the idea of the state incentivizing localities to build more housing and providing developers with an ability to appeal rejected housing projects. Many proposals that were made to address all these public concerns were struck down during the 2025 legislative session. One of the main reasons why all the mentioned proposals failed to pass the General Assembly is because of the large influence the local government lobbies have in Richmond in protecting what little authority they are granted by the state. However, 6 in 10 Virginians indicated that they are more concerned with providing more housing than protecting local government authority. Read more here.

[Richmond Times Dispatch] Spanberger Details Affordability Measures in Health Care, Energy, Housing

By VOW Ops • December 19, 2025
Governor-elect Spanberger has released details on how her administration will work with the General Assembly to address affordability issues for Virginians regarding health care, energy, and housing. Democrats in the General Assembly argue the proposals are needed to mitigate the effects of President Trump’s tariff policies and reduction of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies. Some of the solutions being proposed are legislation from the previous session that were vetoed by Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin. In health care, Spanberger and Virginia Democrats will tackle pharmacy benefit managers’ ability to compel patients toward using affiliated-only pharmacies. The incoming administration also wants to limit the number of times insurance companies can request approvals from patients receiving certain cancer cares and medicines for chronic conditions. Democrats are also reviving legislation that would prohibit insurance companies from charging tobacco smokers higher premiums. Further, Spanberger supports implementing a pilot program to help Virginians who will face unaffordable insurance premiums resulting from the expiration of the ACA enhanced tax credits. In energy, Spanberger called to make it easier for Virginians to utilize small-scale solar panels which don’t require hard labor to install. She also wants the previously vetoed legislation that would set energy storage standards for utility companies brought back to her desk (Governor Youngkin vetoed it because of his belief that the Virginia Clean Economy Act associated with it was ineffective). In housing, Spanberger and Democrats are reviving legislation from 2025 that would extend the grace period tenants have before being evicted for missing rent payments. They are also proposing changes that would give local governments priority in acquiring affordable multi-family units supported by tax credits when the owner wants to sell or convert them. Further, Democrats are reintroducing a bill which would allow all localities to change their zoning ordinances to create dense and affordable housing (currently, only the counties of Albemarle and Loudoun and the cities of Alexandria, Charlottesville, and Fairfax are granted such provisions). Read more here.
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