Virginia just handed Democrats one of the most expensive losses in recent memory. The Virginia Supreme Court struck down a Democrat-backed gerrymander that had already cost the left nearly $100 million to push through. The ruling didn't just kill a map. It exposed a strategy that was always on shaky legal ground and left a party already cash-strapped holding a much lighter bag heading into the midterm election. How do you explain that to your donors?
The Virginia Supreme Court issued a 4-3 decision Friday striking down the Democrat-engineered redistricting referendum that voters had narrowly approved in April. The new congressional maps, drawn with brutal partisan intent, would have flipped the state's delegation from its current 6-5 Democratic edge to a 10-1 Democratic advantage — nearly wiping Republicans off the Virginia congressional map. The court ruled the legislature had violated procedural requirements of the Virginia Constitution when it placed the amendment on the ballot, rendering the referendum "null and void.”
Republicans, led by the RNC, fought the legal battle smart and lean. The successful challenge relied in part on an RNC-funded amicus brief and support from the National Republican Congressional Committee. While Democrats saturated the airwaves and flooded the zone with cash, Republicans quietly built their legal case. Many thought the GOP had dropped the ball by failing to match Democratic spending. It hadn't.
"Democrats just learned that when you try to rig elections, you lose," RNC Chairman Joe Gruters said, summing up the situation perfectly. "Today, the Virginia Supreme Court sided with the rule of law and struck down Democrats' unconstitutional maps."
Related: Democrats Are in Full Panic Mode After the Virginia Supreme Court Ruling
Here’s what made it such a devastating defeat: Democrats and their allied groups poured more than $65 million into the gerrymandering referendum push. Republicans, however, spent comparatively little, leaning instead on legal strategy and targeted organizing.
But the real loser here is House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. His aligned super PAC and the nonprofit House Majority Forward accounted for roughly $40 million of that total burn.
Trump digital strategist Tim Saler called it "important context for the $66M in real actual money Hakeem set on fire grandstanding in an illegal referendum election in Virginia." Chris LaCivita, Trump's 2024 co-campaign manager, was equally blunt, asking on social media, "where are all the people attacking us for not spending enough in Virginia?…they are laughing at Dems for wasting $60 million."
LaCivita's instincts — and those of Republicans who held their fire — were vindicated completely.
The political damage here goes well beyond Virginia. Time, money, and resources that could have gone to key races are now gone. Jeffries now has to face his donors with nothing to show for tens of millions spent. When you blow $40 million on a gerrymander that courts always had reason to kill, you don't just lose the money — you lose the credibility that comes with it. Donors who watched that bonfire are probably feeling deja vu after donating millions to Kamala Harris only for her to lose every single swing state.
Jeffries didn't just light cash on fire; he just suffered a humiliating loss of political capital.
