Johnson Hits Back: ‘We Are On The Track To Win In November’
House Speaker Mike Johnson pushed back forcefully this week against media questioning over Republican-led redistricting efforts, arguing that Democrats—not the GOP—ignited the escalating national battle over congressional maps.
When asked whether he supports Florida Republicans pursuing mid-cycle redistricting ahead of the midterms, Johnson didn’t hesitate.
“Absolutely. Florida has the right and the intention to do it and my view is that they should,” he said on Capitol Hill.
Johnson then rejected claims that Republicans initiated the controversial practice, pointing instead to earlier Democrat-led efforts in states like New York.
“You all remember. So the very people who are claiming that are the ones who helped orchestrate that boondoggle. They’re the ones that started that,” he said, also invoking former Obama-era Attorney General Eric Holder as a key figure in earlier redistricting battles.
“They started that. And that’s why some states have almost entirely blue delegations and no Republicans, even though big percentages of their population vote Republican,” Johnson added.
The Speaker argued that Republican-led states are now acting within their legal authority to counterbalance what he described as years of partisan maneuvering by Democrats.
“The Republican states are doing what they can do lawfully under their state laws,” he said, while accusing Democrat-controlled states like California and Virginia of bending or ignoring constitutional rules to gain political advantage.
The comments come as redistricting disputes intensify nationwide, with both parties seeking to shape the battlefield ahead of November’s high-stakes midterm elections. President Donald J. Trump has openly supported mid-decade redistricting as a strategy to protect and expand the GOP’s narrow House majority.
At the center of the latest legal clash is Virginia, where a state judge struck down a voter-approved redistricting amendment, ruling it unconstitutional and halting its implementation.
Judge Jack Hurley determined that the measure was “void ab initio”—legally invalid from the outset—citing multiple violations of the state constitution. His ruling prevents officials from certifying the results of the April 21 referendum or moving forward with new congressional maps.
The decision effectively nullifies the outcome of the vote, despite early results showing a narrow majority in favor of the amendment.
The lawsuit was brought by Republican groups and sitting members of Congress, who argued the proposal would unlawfully redraw district lines and cause irreparable harm.
Central to the ruling was Virginia’s constitutional requirement that amendments pass through two separate legislative sessions, with a House election occurring between them. The court found that this process had not been followed and that the next qualifying election would not occur until 2027.
Judge Hurley also cited procedural failures, including lawmakers exceeding the scope of a special session and violating the state’s mandated 90-day waiting period between legislative approval and the start of voting.
Perhaps most notably, the court found the ballot language itself to be “flagrantly misleading,” ruling that it failed to accurately describe the substance of the amendment—a violation that alone can invalidate a measure regardless of voter approval.
Under the proposed changes, Virginia’s redistricting process would have shifted from its current decennial system—conducted after the U.S. Census with input from a bipartisan commission—to allow mid-decade map redraws by the legislature.
Analysts suggested the plan could have dramatically reshaped the state’s political landscape, with as many as 10 of Virginia’s 11 congressional districts expected to favor Democrats under the new configuration.
As legal battles unfold and political tensions rise, the redistricting fight is emerging as a defining issue of the 2026 midterms—one that could ultimately determine control of Congress.