Rep. Rob Whittman, R-Virginia, penned an op-ed for Fox News condemning local Democrats for flip-flopping on gerrymandering.
In his piece, he pointed out how vehemently the lawmakers were opposed to gerrymandering until recently, defying the will of voters who overwhelmingly settled the redistricting debate in 2020.
“Nearly two-thirds of Virginians amended our Constitution to create an independent redistricting commission and take map-drawing power away from politicians. The message was unmistakable: stop the gerrymander. Stop letting politicians choose their voters,” he wrote.
“Democrats applauded that reform. House of Delegates Speaker Don Scott praised fairness and transparency. Senate President pro tempore L. Louise Lucas declared it would ensure ‘an equitable, transparent and bipartisan process to ensure our electoral maps are drawn fairly.’ Rep. Don Beyer said plainly, ‘Gerrymandering is cheating. It allows politicians to select their voters, when it should be the other way around.’ They were right,” he added.
Spanberger herself supported the measure in 2019.
“Gerrymandering is detrimental to our democracy. Opposing gerrymandering should be a bipartisan priority,” she said, again addressing the matter while running for governor. “Short answer is no. I have no plans to redistrict Virginia.”
Whittman claims that she has changed her tune since being elected to office.
“Now Gov. Spanberger has signed legislation clearing the way for an extreme 10-1 congressional map, a plan that would give Democrats 10 of Virginia’s 11 seats in a closely divided state,” he writes. “When Democrats unveiled their 10-1 map, they were explicit about their intent. ‘We said 10-1 and we meant it,’ Lucas declared. Scott called it ‘leveling the playing field across the country.’ That language is revealing. This is not about communities of interest, compact districts, or neutrality. It is about national partisan math.”
The representative rebuked the sudden change of heart:
You cannot condemn gerrymandering nationally and celebrate it locally. The answer to partisan map manipulation in another state is not to import it here. In 2020, 65% of Virginia voters decided to take map drawing out of the hands of politicians to prevent partisan gerrymandering. This is exactly why.
Virginia is a competitive state. Our congressional delegation stands at six Democrats and five Republicans. Republicans represent roughly 45% to 48% of the electorate. A 10-1 map does not reflect Virginia’s political reality. It manufactures a result.
The map Democrats released was crafted behind closed doors to engineer one of the most extreme partisan outcomes in the nation. It splits Northern Virginia into five districts, not to preserve communities of interest, but to manufacture advantage. It stretches regions that share little in common socially or economically, all to achieve a predetermined partisan outcome.
ADVERTISEMENTThat is gerrymandering.
He closes out the piece by saying the choice of Virginians “should stand” even though it may not benefit the party currently in power.
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to write. Marlee also contributes to BizPac Review.
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