Winsome Sears blasts Virginia Dems’ surprise redistricting session as a ‘stunt’ to pull her off the trail

Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earl Sears criticized Virginia Democrats after they indicated a plan to suddenly call the Legislature back in a last-minute special session to address potential redistricting before the election.

Virginia’s redistricting commission is legally charged with drafting new congressional maps after each decennial census, but state Democrats appear poised to try to make a final push around the process, perhaps via the constitutional amendment process.

“In a desperate political ploy, Democrats are in Virginia General Assembly “They are calling a special session to remove Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earl Sears from the campaign trail,” Earl Sears’ campaign said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

A new poll in the key Virginia governor’s showdown suggests a single-digit race

As lieutenant governor, Earl Sears is the president who presides over the Democratic-majority state Senate.

“The same politicians who participated in the ‘No Kings’ protests are now trying to crown themselves as arbiters of Virginia politics, abusing their offices to manipulate the calendar because they can’t win on ideas,” the campaign said.

Earl Sears’ spokesman Peyton Vogel said the activity is “what panic looks like” for a party out of new ideas and relying on such “stunts,” and suggested a Democratic challenger. Abigail Spanberger – Former Congresswoman -He was somehow involved in the plan.

“[S]He is leading the charge on cheap political actions to slow Winsome Earle-Sears’ momentum. It’s pathetic. Voters see right through it. “They know that Winsome Earl Sears is a Marine, a mother, and a fighter for Virginia every day — while Abigail Spanberger is a career politician who uses Washington-style dirty tricks to protect her power and her friends,” Vogel said.

EARLE-SEARS comes out swinging in a heated discussion while Spanberger dodges questions from Jay Jones

A poll conducted by Suffolk University on Thursday showed Earl Sears trailed Spanberger By about eight percentage points, while her colleagues John Reed and Jason Miyares were either tied or directly ahead of their Democratic opponents.

Democrats hope to expand their majority by two seats in the House of Delegates, targeting several districts in suburban and suburban Hampton Roads and Washington, D.C., where Republicans sit on a statistical knife-edge. There will be no seats in the state Senate until 2027. The upper chamber also has a Democratic majority with two seats.

House Speaker Don Scott Jr., D-Portsmouth, and Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Mount Vernon, did not respond to requests for comment. However, Surovell told the New York Times that plans to reconvene the Legislature in Richmond next week are aimed at countering President Donald Trump’s campaign to pressure Republican-led states over redistricting.

Those states, like Texas, see their efforts as a weakening of California Democrats’ success in a mid-decade redistricting plan through Sacramento.

Voters in Virginia are suing to remove Democrats from the ballot in a district that could decide the majority in the state House of Representatives

“We are returning to address the actions taken by the Trump administration,” Surovell told the Times.

At the federal level, Democrats hold six of the 11 House seats in Virginia. Some seats held by Republicans are often considered “swing” seats that regularly swing back and forth — such as Rep. Jennifer Keegans’ seats in Cape Charles and Hampton Roads.

Loudoun County — once reliably Republican — has trended far left in the past decade, and there is no longer a Republican member of Congress within about 50 miles of Washington.

Rep. Yevgeny “Eugene” Vindman, D-Virginia, the twin brother of Alexander Vindman, holds a once-swing district in Prince William County and the D.C. suburbs, another long-term loss for the GOP.

WINSOME EARLE-SEARS rebukes Spanberger’s plan to roll back Virginia’s ice charter: ‘It’s not hard’

Virginia State Capitol Building in Richmond. (Wayne McNamee/Getty Images)

By contrast, Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va.’s district, at the far southwestern tip of Virginia, is solidly Republican. And the way Rep. Ben Cline’s neighboring district — which hugs Interstate 81 and the Blue Ridge Mountains — is drawn remains so.

But Cline’s district could be targeted by Democratic redrawing — splitting the district’s skinny, up-and-down portion of Republican John McGuire’s boundaries and pasting the pieces into the increasingly blue center of the state could create several new seats designed to favor Democrats.

Playing with the looks of other districts like Vindman along I-95 and Republican Rep. Rob Whitmer in the Northern Neck could also pay dividends for Democrats.

It was Democrats who primarily spearheaded the original constitutional amendment in 2020 that created the commission they now want to circumvent, as introduced by then-Sen. George Parker of Fairfax. Some Republicans are listed as co-signers of the resolution as well.

SPANBERGER DEFENDS Abortion Ad Criticism After Bernie Warns Not to Highlight Issue

The amendment was later approved by about two-thirds of Virginia voters, reports said.

If they take the path of the constitutional amendment, its passage before the November elections will be counted as one session, and thus the Democrats – who are betting on maintaining or increasing their numbers in the Legislative Council – will have to pass it again in the 2026 session before holding the ballot after its approval.

Whether Earl Sears or Spanberger wins,… Governor is constitutionally prohibited From interfering in the process.

In contrast, working through the regular legislative process would allow the governor to intervene; With outgoing Yongqin prepares to use his veto Their initial attempt.

Pennsylvania Republicans are led by the state’s 2022 gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano He enlisted the same operation to defraud the then government. Tom Wolfe and ending onerous coronavirus lockdown orders, so the operation has seen recent success.

Click here to download the FOX NEWS app

The Virginia amendment is unlikely to create a new map, but instead authorizes a new process to begin redistricting outside the current system with the decennial commission.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Spanberger for comment on Earle-Sears’ claim.