Turley Slams Virginia Dems After Supreme Court Rejects Congressional Map

Jonathan Turley sharply criticized Virginia Democrats Friday after the Supreme Court of Virginia struck down the party’s proposed congressional redistricting plan, calling the effort a political and legal disaster that could backfire nationally against Democrats ahead of the midterm elections.

Turley made the remarks during an appearance on Fox News alongside host Sean Hannity just hours after the court invalidated the map Democrats hoped would dramatically reshape Virginia’s congressional delegation.

Critics argued the proposed map would have heavily favored Democrats in as many as 10 of Virginia’s 11 congressional districts despite the state remaining politically divided between Republicans and Democrats.

“I said this from the beginning, this will never, ever meet judicial scrutiny,” Hannity said during the segment.

Hannity argued the proposal suffered from serious constitutional flaws, particularly regarding how Democratic lawmakers advanced the amendment onto the ballot.

“They have very strict constitutional procedures that they had to meet,” Hannity said. “They didn’t follow any of the procedures to get an amendment on the ballot, none of them!”

Turley agreed, saying Virginia historically maintains stricter safeguards against partisan gerrymandering than many other states and suggesting Democratic lawmakers attempted to rush the process ahead of the midterm elections.

“No, that’s absolutely right, Sean, and there was a host of problems, but the most glaring was that one,” Turley said.

“Virginia was always the gold standard for gerrymandering. Virginia doesn’t like gerrymandering — makes it very difficult to do so,” he continued.

Turley said the court ultimately refused to endorse what he described as an improperly rushed effort to secure political advantages before voters head to the polls.

“So to get this through, they had to do a sort of bum’s rush to get this in before the midterm elections,” Turley said. “And the Supreme Court of Virginia said, ‘No, we’re not going to sign off on this.’”

The legal analyst also singled out Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger, accusing her of abandoning previous opposition to gerrymandering after taking office.

“Now, this was a face-planting of legendary size for Governor Spanberger,” Turley said. “She had previously assured voters that she was vehemently against gerrymandering.”

“And as soon as she was elected, she went to the hard left, and then asked and pushed through the most radical gerrymandering scheme in the country,” he added.

During the discussion, Hannity noted reports that the campaign supporting the redistricting push allegedly cost tens of millions of dollars and was heavily backed by political organizations aligned with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

“Sixty-four million,” Hannity said.

Turley argued the failed effort may have alienated large numbers of Virginia voters who viewed the proposed map as an attempt to effectively erase Republican representation.

“In addition to the 64 million, they alienated half of this state,” Turley said.

“A lot of Republicans and independents are not going to forget this,” he continued. “They don’t view this as partisan; they view it as personal.”

“You attempted to erase them in terms of representation,” Turley added.

The conversation also expanded to the broader national redistricting battle now unfolding between Republicans and Democrats following recent court rulings limiting race-based district maps.

Hannity suggested Republicans could ultimately gain significant congressional advantages nationwide as states redraw maps following recent Supreme Court decisions.

Turley argued Democrats strategically miscalculated by reigniting aggressive mid-decade redistricting efforts despite already holding favorable maps in many heavily Democratic states.

“This was just a breathtakingly dumb move by the Democrats,” Turley said.

“When they began, when they went down this road, I wrote a column saying, you need to consider this because the Democratic states were already gerrymandered,” he explained.

Turley pointed specifically to states such as California, Illinois, and Massachusetts, where Democrats already enjoy strong structural congressional advantages through existing district maps.

He also warned that long-term population trends ahead of the 2030 census appear increasingly favorable to Republican-led states due to migration patterns shifting political representation toward the South and other GOP-controlled regions.

“So the Democrats are looking at a colossal loss,” Turley said.

“And I think that’s one of the reasons why they want to pack the Supreme Court and make radical changes to the constitutional system before it’s too late,” he added.

The Virginia ruling represents one of the most significant setbacks yet for Democrats in the rapidly escalating national redistricting war, where both parties increasingly view congressional maps — rather than persuasion alone — as critical to controlling the balance of power in Washington.