A spokesman for state House Speaker Bill Howell (R) said Republicans don’t have a map to start out with ahead of Monday’s start of the special session on redistricting. “We haven’t done the preliminary work necessary to craft a plan,” Matt Moran said in an email.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) called for a holistic fix to the map, saying minor changes around Rep. Bobby Scott’s (D-VA 03) district wouldn’t be enough.
“Any effort to remedy that violation with minor tweaks to a fundamentally flawed map will necessarily remain tangled in racial consideration and therefore remain illegal,” McAuliffe said in a statement. “The only remedy that could survive court challenge is one that starts fresh and draws new maps based on the principles of equal representation, compact and contiguous districts, and the integrity of communities of interest.” (Hampton Roads Pilot)