Virginia Democrats are clearly panicking. Rachael Bade, co-host of The Huddle, elaborated on what former Democratic Party operative and fellow co-host Dan Turrentine mentioned this week about the fate of the Old Dominion’s new congressional map. It grants Democrats a 10-1 advantage, but the state Supreme Court refused to dismiss the challenge to the map, setting the stage for serious intra-party battles.
The legal warnings were reportedly repeated endlessly, but to no effect. Now, Democratic leaders at both the Virginia and national levels could face a heavy setback if the maps are invalidated. Bade outlined the criteria the court could use to strike down the maps. Sure, the map might get approved, but if the Virginia Supreme Court sides with just one of these points, the map is cooked:
AND THE KNIVES ARE OUT FOR SOME BIG NAMES. Per Dan’s reporting, Governor ABIGAIL SPANBERGER’s staff is quietly sniping at state Senate majority leader SCOTT SUROVELL and state Senate kingmaker LOUISE LUCAS — two lawmakers who pushed back hardest on the legal warnings last fall.
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If this effort goes down, those quotes won’t age well. “People are lining up behind the scenes to go public, I think, very quickly if this does not go through,” Dan foreshadowed.
BUT HERE’S THE THING — Pointing fingers won’t let Spanberger off the hook, which we discussed at length on the show. Yes, she may have privately raised concerns about the effort early on. But she’s the one in the ads. She’s the face of this thing. As our other co-host SEAN SPICER put it bluntly: “She ate the political cookie on this one.”
The other name in the crosshairs if this goes down? House Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES. Dan is already hearing from some Virginia Dems who say the Democratic leader pushed too hard despite legal concerns. (Though, let’s be fair to Jeffries — he would have been slammed by the party if he hadn’t leaned in, and his team would likely wear such criticism as a badge of honor.)
TO BE SURE, Democrats could still win this court battle. But the behind-the-scenes freakout shows the level of concern. Indeed, the legal vulnerabilities are real — and they are stacked. Sean, a Virginia native, has been harping on about the apparent procedural problems for months:
- That Democrats failed to provide a required 90-day notice before the election.
- That Democrats used “misleading” ballot language when they framed the question as one of “fairness.”
- That they didn’t follow the statute requiring an “intervening election” of the House of Delegates between two votes approving a constitutional amendment.
- And that the special session was invalidly called and used to advance the effort.
Former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli had more:
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— Ken Cuccinelli II (@KenCuccinelli) May 5, 2026
That deadline has now come and gone with no ruling from the Sup Ct of Va (#SCOVA). We are now seriously cutting into what had been expected to be candidate filing & campaigning time.
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— Ken Cuccinelli II (@KenCuccinelli) May 5, 2026
But their schedule-moving lightening fast thru briefing & oral argument-indicates they're committed to reaching their result as fast as reasonably possible, while still maintaining their usual quality decision making.
Stay tuned.@ETI_now
Turrentine gave Virginia Democrats less than a 50 percent chance of their map being certified.