A Walk Down Memory Lane on Virginia Redistricting – and Republicans’ Long History of Gerrymandering

by Cindy/VAPLAN

With all the GOP House and Senate floor speeches waxing poetic about the odiousness of gerrymandering and the glorious rapture of its demise in Virginia, I thought I’d take a walk down memory lane to check out the path that brought us to this place. Because, you see, I’m old enough to remember the before times–before the GOP fell in love with so-called “independent” redistricting, before 1VA2021, funded in part ironically (or perhaps not so ironically) by Texas billionaires (one who had worked for Enron, the other for an oil production/exploration company), swept into Virginia and convinced Democrats to give up their power to gerrymander in 2021, even if most other states did no such thing.

So let’s look back. Back to 2001 when the GOP gerrymandered Democrats in the House and Senate nearly to oblivion. When Mark Warner had just won a statewide election with 52% of the vote, but the House was drawn to a 64-34 Republican majority, and the Senate was a 23-17 Republican majority. Democratic legislators were upset, with good reason. And so Democrats like Senator Creigh Deeds and Delegates James Shuler, William Barlow, Kris Amundson, and others proposed constitutional amendments to have lines drawn by independent redistricting commissions of every conceivable size, membership, and limitations on districts. Here’s a little list, from 2003-2011:

• 2003 HJ634 (Delegate James Shuler, DEM) would have created a 13-member commission where 12 of the members—not in office nor employed by those in office–were appointed by both political parties evenly, and the thirteenth “independent” member agreed upon by a majority of the 12 political members, or by SCOVA if no agreement can be reached. The independent member would then chair the commission. Districts would keep counties and cities intact to the extent possible, and would not take into account incumbency, previous election results, or demographics except as required by law. Killed in 14-7-1 (R-D-I) House P&E committee, with all Democratic delegates voting to report.
•  2003 HJ652 (Delegate William Barlow, DEM) would have created an 11-member geographically-representative commission appointed by the most recently retired Chief Justice of SCOVA from a list of retired judges. Districts compact and contiguous. Killed in 14-7-1 (R-D-I) House P&E committee, with all Democratic delegates voting to report.
•  2003 SJ281 (Senator Creigh Deeds, DEM) would have created a 13-member commission where 12 of the members—not in office nor employed by those in office–were appointed by both political parties evenly, and the thirteenth “independent” member someone agreed upon by a majority of the 12 political members, or by SCOVA if no agreement can be reached. The independent member would then chair the commission. Districts compact and contiguous. Killed in 11-4 (R-D) Senate P&E committee on 5-10 vote with all Democratic senators voting to report.
• 2005 HJ542 (Delegate James Shuler, DEM) would have created a 13-member commission similar to in 2003 HJ634 above. Killed by voice vote in 13-7-1 (R-D-I) House P&E committee.
•  2005 HJ698 (Delegate Kris Amundson, DEM) would have created a five-member commission, where four members are appointed equally by political parties and the fifth an independent member agreed to by majority of the remaining four, or by SCOVA if no agreement can be reached. Districts would be compact and contiguous and keep counties and cities intact to the extent possible, and would respect communities of interest and natural boundaries and ignore incumbency and political data. Killed in 13-7-1 (R-D-I) House P&E committee, on a 13-7 vote, with all but one Democratic Delegate voting to report.
•  2005 SJ307 (Senator Creigh Deeds, DEM) would have created a 13-member commission as in 2003 HJ634 above. It failed in 8-6 (R-D) Senate P&E committee on a 7-7 vote, with all Democratic senators voting to report.
• 2007 HJ560 (Delegate James Shuler, DEM) and HJ715 (Delegate Ken Plum, DEM) would have created a 13-member commission similar to the 2003 HJ634 above. Killed in 13-7-1 (R-D-I) House P&E committee.
•  2007 HJ620 (Delegate Kris Amundson, DEM) and HJ719 (Delegate Brian Moran, DEM) would have created a five-member commission, where four members are appointed equally by political parties and the fifth an independent member agreed to by majority of the remaining four, or by SCOVA if no agreement can be reached. Districts would be compact and contiguous and keep counties and cities intact to the extent possible. Killed in 13-7-1 (R-D-I) House P&E committee.
•  2007 HJ718 (Delegate William Barlow, DEM) would have created an 11-member commission as in 2003 HJ652 above. Killed in 13-7-1 (R-D-I) House P&E committee.
•  2007 SJ352 (Senator Creigh Deeds, DEM) would have created a 13-member commission as in 2003 HJ634 above. Passed the Senate on a 22-18 vote, with all but one Democratic senator voting yes. Killed in 13-7-1 (R-D-I) House P&E committee. [Note: as we approach the next redistricting, the Senate GOP is starting to worry they might lose the majority before they can gerrymander again. So this is the first time we start to see a tiny bit of GOP interest in redistricting commissions, even if short-lived.]
• 2009 HJ702 (Delegate William Barlow, DEM) would have created an 11-member commission as in 2003 HJ652 above. Killed in a 12-9-1 (R-D-I) House P&E committee.
•  2009 SJ281 (Senator Creigh Deeds, DEM) would have created a 13-member commission as in 2003 HJ634 above. Left behind in a 9-6 (D-R) Senate P&E committee.
•  2009 SJ312 (Senator John Miller, DEM) would have created a five-member district as in 2005 HJ698 above. It was left behind in a 9-6 (D-R) Senate P&E committee.
•  2011 SJ321 (Senator Creigh Deeds, DEM) would have created a 13-member commission as in 2003 HJ634 above. Passed the Senate 35-5, killed by voice vote in a 4-2-1 (R-D-I) House subcommittee. [This one seems moot, since it’s a first reference in a year when the drawing will take place; so couldn’t take effect before the next gerrymander.]

Guess what time it is? Having killed every proposal for an independent redistricting commission, it’s time for the next GOP gerrymander! In this gerrymander, the GOP drew 72 seats in the House that favored the Republican candidate, and ended up moving from a 58-39 majority to a 67-32 majority. Time for Democrats to propose more anti-gerrymandering measures.

• 2013 HJ663 (Delegate Betsy Carr, DEM) would have created a 7-member nonpartisan redistricting commission (chosen by SCOVA from a list of retired judges willing to serve) to draw lines after the 2020 Census. Districts would be compact, contiguous, and competitive, and would keep communities of interest together, with no regard for incumbency or the interests of any political party. It was laid on the table by voice vote in a House subcommittee that was controlled 5-2 by Republicans.
•  2013 SJ303 (Senator Creigh Deeds, DEM) would have created a 13-member commission as in the 2003 HJ634. It passed the Senate floor on a 34-6 vote, with all Democratic senators voting yea, and subsequently was killed by voice vote in a 14-7-1 (R-D-I) House P&E committee.
• 2015 HJ584 (Delegate Sam Rasoul, DEM) would have created a seven-member commission, four appointed by the political parties equally, and three chosen by lot from a list of applicants who swear to not be affiliated with any political party. Districts drawn to preserve political subdivisions, contiguity, compactness, communities of interest, and without regard for political data or incumbency. Left behind in a 15-7 (R-D) House P&E committee.
•  2015 HJ685 (Delegate Ken Plum, DEM) would have created a 13-member commission as in the 2003 HJ634. Left behind in a 15-7 (R-D) House P&E committee.
• 2015 HJ624 (Delegate Betsy Carr, DEM) would have created a 7-member commission as in 2013 HJ663. Left behind in a 15-7 (R-D) House P&E committee.
•  2015 SJ284 (Senator Jill Vogel, GOP) started out as a 13-member commission as in 2003 HJ634; was amended in committee to a seven-member committee with four appointed by the political parties, and the remaining three being 1) the Auditor of Public Accounts, 2) the State Inspector General, and 3) the Executive Director of the Virginia State Bar. Districts drawn to preserve political subdivisions, contiguity, compactness, communities of interest, and without regard for political data or incumbency. Passed the Senate on a 27-12 vote, with the 12 nays being six Democratic senators and six Republican senators. It then was left behind in a 15-7 (R-D) House P&E committee. [This is the VERY FIRST proposal brought by a GOP member!!]
•  2015 SJ224 (Senator Louise Lucas, DEM) was incorporated into SJ284 above, and as drafted matched the amended version of SJ284.
•  2015 SJ233 (Senator Janet Howell, DEM) did not create a redistricting commission, but would require the legislators as they draw the districts to abide by the criteria specified in the amended version of SJ284. It failed the Senate on the floor on a 19-18 vote (21 votes required to pass), with two of the 18 nay votes Democratic senators.
• 2017 HJ628 (Delegate Ken Plum, DEM) would have created a 13-member commission as in 2003 HJ634. Killed by a 4-3 vote in a House P&E subcommittee, with all Democratic delegates on the subcommittee voting to report.
•  2017 HB651 (Delegate Betsy Carr, DEM) would have created a seven-member commission as in 2013 HJ663. Killed by a 4-3 vote in a House P&E subcommittee, with all Democratic delegates on the subcommittee voting to report.
•  2017 HB749 (Delegate John Bell, DEM) would have created a seven-member commission as in the 2017 SJ284, but with the districts drawn using the Shortest Split mathematical algorithm, with adjustments. Killed by a 4-3 vote in a House P&E subcommittee, with all Democratic delegates on the subcommittee voting to report.
•  2017 HJ763 (Delegate Steve Landes, GOP) did not create a redistricting commission, but prohibited legislators from drawing districts to explicitly favor a political party or incumbents. Killed by a 4-3 vote in a House P&E subcommittee, with all Democratic delegates on the subcommittee voting to report.
•  2017 SJ231 (Senator Emmett Hanger, GOP) and SJ230 (Senator Sturtevant, GOP) would have created a seven-member redistricting commission as in 2013 HJ663. It passed the Senate on a 33-7 vote, with the 7 nay votes being 2 Democratic senators and 5 Republican senators. It was subsequently killed in the House P&E committee on a 14-7 party-line vote, with Republican delegates voting to kill. [Really starting to see some interest, or at least feigned interest by the GOP in reform–I wonder what’s coming up that might be changing their mind?]
•  2017 SB260 (Senator George Barker, DEM) would have created an eight-member redistricting commission of political appointees that would require six of eight votes to approve districts. Districts drawn to as closely as possible match statewide voting totals. This bill was incorporated into SJ231, with none of its provisions being written in.
•  2017 SB269 (Senator Creigh Deeds, DEM) would have created a 13-member redistricting commission as in 2003 HJ634. It was incorporated into SJ231.
•  2017 SJ280 (Senator Lynwood Lewis, DEM) did not create a redistricting commission, but prohibited legislators from drawing districts to favor any political party or incumbents or using any political data.

And now we arrive at the 2019 legislative session. A session that took place in January before the November 2019 vote on all 140 members of the legislature. A session that took place with a WILDLY unpopular president in the White House. When voters would later take to the polls in a blue wave that would shake the nation. And guess who is suddenly VERY INTERESTED in passing a redistricting commission–at least passing a first reference, with the full knowledge that after they were to see how the election turned out, and whether they would hold onto the power to gerrymander again in 2021, they could THEN vote to kill or keep the “independent” redistricting commission. And the Democrats? Well, perhaps they believed in little-d democracy, perhaps they leapt at the chance to block the next GOP gerrymander just in case, perhaps they were pressured by constituents who were part of the massive advocacy efforts of 1VA2021 (again, partly funded by conservative TX billionaires) and other coalition members; for whichever reason, they voted to pass a not-very-independent and fairly flawed redistricting commission amendment.

• 2019 HJ615 (Delegate Mark Cole, GOP) as introduced created an eight-member “independent” redistricting commission consisting of four members appointed by the House P&E committee, and four members appointed by the Senate P&E committee. No district criteria. The committee substitute was a 12-member commission all political appointments, evenly split between parties. Districts compact and contiguous, and “consideration may be given to” communities of interest, while “every effort possible” would be made to “preserve the political parity.” What finally passed was the 1VA2021 constitutional amendment. Final vote: 83-15, with 14 of the 15 being Democratic delegates.
•  2019 HJ642 (Delegate John Bell, DEM) would have created a seven-member commission using Shortest Split algorithm as in HB749 above. The bill was left behind in a 12-10 (R-D) House P&E committee.
•  2019 SJ274 (Senator Emmett Hanger, GOP) would have created a ten-member commission where a judicial selection committee selects from applicants three members affiliated with each party, and four who do not affiliate with any party and approval of maps requires a seven-vote majority. District criteria similar to 1VA2021 plan. Killed in Senate P&E committee on 9-5 vote, where all five nay votes were Democratic senators.
•  2019 SJ306 (Senator George Barker, DEM) was the 1VA2021 plan. It passed the Senate 39-1.

And then, 2020. Where Democrats now had control of both the House and the Senate. And had the ability to stop. Had the ability to NOT unilaterally disarm when most every other state did not. Had the ability to a) legislate no gerrymandering for this 2021 district process and then draft and pass an actually independent redistricting commission for the next decades. But alas. Enough of them joined in with the GOP–who now of course had no reason whatsoever not to want to prevent gerrymandering–to pass the amendment the second time. And here we are.

• SJ18 (Senator George Barker, DEM) was the second reference of the 1VA2021 plan. It passed the Senate 38-2, with all but two Senate Democrats voting for it. It passed the House 54-46, with the help of nine Democratic delegates.
• SJ12 (Senator John Cosgrove, GOP) was a second reference of the 1VA2021 plan that was incorporated into SJ18.
• SJ70 (Senator Emmett Hanger, GOP) was a second reference of the 1VA2021 plan that was incorporated into SJ18.
• HJ71 (Delegate Schuyler VanValkenburg, DEM) was the second reference of the 1VA2021 plan. It was left behind in the 13-9 (D-R) House P&E committee.
• HJ143 (Delegate Mark Levine, DEM) would have created a ten-member commission similar to 2019 SJ274. It was continued to 2021, because first references of constitutional amendment resolutions only are voted on in odd-numbered years.