Trump handed brutal blow in crucial state after last-minute plea to voters… in dire sign for GOP

By NIKKI SCHWAB, CHIEF CAMPAIGN CORRESPONDENT Published: 01:53, 22 April 2026 | Updated: 02:01, 22 April 2026 Virginia voters punished President Donald Trump for meddling with Congressional maps on Tuesday by approving a redistricting effort that could rob Republicans of every US House seat in the commonwealth except one.  Voters approved a constitutional amendment on Tuesday that will bypass the state's bipartisan commission and redraw Virginia's congressional map to heavily favor the Democrats, handing them a 10-to-1 advantage in the former swing state.  The race was called by the Associated Press a little before 9pm.  The move, backed by national Democrats including former President Barack Obama, was made in response to Trump asking Texas Republicans last year to gerrymander their districts in an effort to keep the House of Representatives in GOP hands.  Midterm elections are generally unfavorable to the President's party - and Republicans already have a razor-thin majority in the House.  If the Democrats take back control, there's the likelihood of investigations and impeachment.   Trump's Texas demand set off an unusual mid-decade redistricting frenzy. Fresh maps in Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio are expected to help Republicans.  On Tuesday, Virginians headed to the polls to decide if they would allow the Democrats to redistrict their US House districts in order to offset Republican redistricting efforts in Texas and several other states  A person votes in a Virginia redistricting referendum on Tuesday that could help Democrats win the House of Representatives in November  California Governor Gavin Newsom, a likely 2028 White House contender,  spearheaded Proposition 50, which was on the ballot in California in November and overwhelmingly passed.  Democrats believe they can pick up five seats from the redrawn California districts and one more seat due to a court-ordered redistricting in Utah.  In Virginia, Democrats currently occupy six of the commonwealth's 11 US House seats. The new map could give Democrats 10 out of 11. It does that by branching several more Congressional districts out of Washington, DC's liberal-leaning suburbs, diluting the state's rural, Republican vote.  Virginia Republicans have been up in arms about the effort.  And they've expressed disgust at the commonwealth's Democratic Governor Abigail Spanberger for campaigning as a moderate during her 2025 race but coming out in support of the proposed constitutional amendment.  Spanberger previously supported the 2020 effort to have Virginia's districts drawn by a bipartisan commission and has generally expressed opposition against gerrymandering.  A poster on the Virginia redistricting effort in which voters have to vote 'yes' for a proposed constitutional amendment that would take redistricting duties away from a bipartisan commission  'I Voted' stickers are captured at a polling place Tuesday in Alexandria, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, DC. The new Democratic-leaning districts cut into the liberal DC suburbs to dilute the rural, Republican Virginia vote  While Democratic figures like Obama and Spanberger have been engaged, Trump - who can travel to Virginia by motorcade from the White House in about 10 minutes - didn't rally around the issue.  Instead, he and House Speaker Mike Johnson participated in a 'tele-rally' on Monday, the night before the vote, out of view from the press.  The President also didn't wholeheartedly back Spanberger's opponent in the lead-up to the November off-year Virginia gubernatorial election, never endorsing GOP Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears.  On Monday, former Trump White House press secretary Sean Spicer, who lives in Northern Virginia, bemoaned the missed opportunity as he commented on the President's decision to hold a last-minute 'tele-rally.'  'A few million of early money to get the grassroots engaged would have saved 4 seats - which very well could be the difference between keeping and losing the House majority,' Spicer said.  The comments below have not been moderated. 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