Virginia congressional map vote could embolden Florida Republicans to push for boundary changes, says Jeffries
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The vote to approve new congressional maps in Virgina could embolden Florida’s Republican-controlled state assembly to consider tit-for-tat changes to its own map, the House Democratic leader has said.
Voters in Virginia on Tuesday approved new congressional maps intended to boost Democrats’ chances of retaking the House of Representatives, in the latest blow to Donald Trump’s effort to use mid-decade redistricting to preserve his control of Congress.
Republican governor Ron DeSantis has called into a special session beginning next month to consider changes in Florida, meaning the GOP could pick up as many as three more seats depending on how the legislature draws the boundaries.
Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, said Tuesday’s result in Virginia should serve as a warning to DeSantis. He wrote in a statement:
If Florida Republicans proceed with this illegal scheme, they will only create more prime-pick up opportunities for Democrats.
We are prepared to take them all on, and we are prepared to win.
The tit-for-tat redistricting battle began last year after Trump pressed Texas’s Republican-controlled legislature to redraw that state’s congressional maps in a bid to oust as many as five Democratic House lawmakers in the November midterm elections.
California voters retaliated by approving new maps that could flip five Republican-held seats, and in Virginia, Abigail Spanberger, the newly elected Democratic governor, backed an effort to redraw her state’s maps following her January inauguration. Tuesday’s referendum could help Democrats win four additional House seats in November’s midterm elections.
Under the new maps, Democrats are now favored to win in 10 of Virginia’s 11 districts. In the current delegation, Democrats hold six seats and Republicans five.
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Key events
California’s race for governor will get its first marquee moment since one-time frontrunner Eric Swalwell abruptly exited the contest, with six candidates set to debate on Wednesday.
Four Democrats and two Republicans will take the stage together starting at 7pm PDT. The top two will advance on 2 June to the runoff in November, even if they are from the same party.
Nexstar Media Group will broadcast the debate in six of the state’s largest markets, giving this debate a wider audience than the first televised debate, which aired on two Fox stations in February.
In the poll that determined debate eligibility, Republican and former Fox News host Steve Hilton led the entire field with 17%. Fellow Republican and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco tied for second with 14%. Meanwhile, 23% of those polled were undecided.
David Smith
He can’t live with him and can’t live without him. But, finally, the conservative podcaster Tucker Carlson seems to have made up his mind about Donald Trump. Their up-and-down marriage of political convenience is heading for the divorce court.
On Tuesday Carlson admitted that he will be “tormented” for a long time by his support for Trump in the 2024 US presidential election “and I want to say I’m sorry for misleading people”. What he did not say is whether this presages his own run for president in 2028.
The breaking point was the war in Iran, a betrayal of Trump’s promise to end US foreign entanglements, and the perceived influence of Israel, which has become a Carlson obsession.
It was the latest – and perhaps final – twist in a long and tortured relationship. Back in 1999, when Trump was potentially running for president on a Reform party ticket, Carlson said he was “the single most repulsive person on the planet”. In 2016, he reportedly told an acquaintance that the Republican frontrunner was “not evil” but “mentally ill”.
Maya Yang
Nearly half of children in the United States are breathing dangerous levels of air pollution, according to a new report, as experts warned Donald Trump’s expansive rollback of protections will make the situation worse.
The 27th annual air quality report from the American Lung Association (ALA) released on Wednesday evaluates pollution across the country by grading levels of ground-level ozone – also known as smog – as well as year-round and short-term spikes in particle pollution, commonly referred to as soot. The report analyzed quality-assured data collected between 2022 and 2024.
It found that 33.5 million children in the US – 46% of those under 18 – live in areas that received a failing grade for at least one measure of air pollution.
The report also found that 7 million children, or 10% of all children in the US, live in communities that failed all three measures.
Speaking to the Guardian, Will Barrett, assistant vice-president of the ALA’s Nationwide Clean Air Policy, said: “Children’s lungs are still developing. For their body size, they’re breathing more air. And also, kids play outdoors, they’re more active, they’re breathing in more outdoor air … So, air pollution exposure in children can contribute to long-term developmental harm to their lungs, new cases of asthma, increased risks of respiratory illness and other health considerations later in life.”
Chris Stein
Polls showed a close race in the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s vote, with signs that right-leaning voters in Virginia’s rural areas were incensed by new maps that would see many of them represented by lawmakers who live in the state’s northern suburbs outside Washington DC.
The surveys also showed that voters were divided on Spanberger’s performance as governor, with Republicans accusing her of lying about her moderate credentials on the campaign trail then quickly pivoting left as governor, including by supporting the referendum.
The race saw heavy spending by Democratic-linked groups and others, who poured more than $64m into the main committee backing the referendum. Groups opposing redistricting brought in around $30m.
Barack Obama recorded television ads in favor of the yes vote, while those opposed aired their own ads focused on past comments he had made criticizing gerrymandering. Glenn Youngkin, the Republican who preceded Spanberger as governor, campaigned heavily for the no vote.
Obama celebrated the result on Tuesday evening.
“Congratulations, Virginia!” the former US president posted on social media. “Republicans are trying to tilt the midterm elections in their favor, but they haven’t done it yet. Thanks for showing us what it looks like to stand up for our democracy and fight back.”
Virginia congressional map vote could embolden Florida Republicans to push for boundary changes, says Jeffries
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.
The vote to approve new congressional maps in Virgina could embolden Florida’s Republican-controlled state assembly to consider tit-for-tat changes to its own map, the House Democratic leader has said.
Voters in Virginia on Tuesday approved new congressional maps intended to boost Democrats’ chances of retaking the House of Representatives, in the latest blow to Donald Trump’s effort to use mid-decade redistricting to preserve his control of Congress.
Republican governor Ron DeSantis has called into a special session beginning next month to consider changes in Florida, meaning the GOP could pick up as many as three more seats depending on how the legislature draws the boundaries.
Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, said Tuesday’s result in Virginia should serve as a warning to DeSantis. He wrote in a statement:
If Florida Republicans proceed with this illegal scheme, they will only create more prime-pick up opportunities for Democrats.
We are prepared to take them all on, and we are prepared to win.
The tit-for-tat redistricting battle began last year after Trump pressed Texas’s Republican-controlled legislature to redraw that state’s congressional maps in a bid to oust as many as five Democratic House lawmakers in the November midterm elections.
California voters retaliated by approving new maps that could flip five Republican-held seats, and in Virginia, Abigail Spanberger, the newly elected Democratic governor, backed an effort to redraw her state’s maps following her January inauguration. Tuesday’s referendum could help Democrats win four additional House seats in November’s midterm elections.
Under the new maps, Democrats are now favored to win in 10 of Virginia’s 11 districts. In the current delegation, Democrats hold six seats and Republicans five.
Read the full story here:
In other developments:
