The extraordinary thing about history is that while you are living through it, you rarely realize you are standing inside it.
You wake up each day, answer calls, draft statements, travel the state, encourage volunteers, speak to reporters, attend rallies, and fight the next battle in front of you. Only later – when the dust settles and the rulings arrive – do you fully grasp the magnitude of what just occurred.
That is where Virginia now finds itself.
Months ago, I warned in the Cardinal News that Virginia was drifting toward a constitutional collision over redistricting. Some dismissed it as another partisan skirmish.
Those in the fight knew from the start: this was never simply about maps. It was about process, constitutional order, and whether rules still matter when political pressure intensifies.
In one of the most extraordinary sequences in modern Virginia politics, the Commonwealth’s highest court ruled that the constitutional amendment process had been violated and voided the statewide referendum.
Read the Virginia Supreme Court order here: May 8th Scott vs. McDougle
Millions were spent, television ads saturated the airwaves, early voting began, and voters cast ballots – only for the Court to determine afterward that the referendum itself was constitutionally defective. That is constitutional drama, not routine politics. In fact, it has all the elements of a political documentary.
We hyped it a bit here: The Eve of the Battle: One More Inch.
The ultimate success of the “Vote No” effort belongs to thousands of Virginians who refused to surrender the field: unit chairs, district chairs, grassroots volunteers, donors, and ordinary citizens who sensed something was wrong.
It also rests on early legal rulings out of Tazewell County that altered the trajectory of this fight. Listen to the Virginia Supreme Court oral arguments here: Supreme Court Oral Arguments April 27
And something else happened – something rare, something powerful.
For the first time since at least late 2021, the entire Republican Party in Virginia was unified, galvanized, and cooperating.
State leaders, national voices, local units, activists, donors, and everyday conservatives and moderate Democrats – all moved in the same direction at the same time. It was remarkable to witness. It reminded us what is possible when a broad coalition decides that constitutional order is worth defending.
That unity cannot be allowed to fade.
Because Virginia now has only a brief moment to exhale. Soon, the fundraising emails will resume. The polling memos will return. Television ads will reappear. Strategists will sharpen turnout models and messaging once again.
And in roughly four months, the next election begins — the congressional midterms. Early voting will open before most Virginians have even adjusted to the summer heat. The next storm is already forming on the horizon.
The good news is the congressional district lines that were – will remain.
If this recent fight proved anything, it is that unity is not only possible — it is powerful. The Commonwealth will need that same energy, that same discipline, and that same sense of shared purpose as the next battle arrives.
Virginia stood together. We can do so again. Voting begins on September 18th – only 132 days away to keep your Republican Congressional delegation.
And then in 2027 all 140 seats in the Virginia General Assembly are up for election. And we’re bring the receipts from 2026.
