A panel of federal judges has chosen a redistricting map for Virginia’s House of Delegates that could shift some districts toward Democrats and help the party gain control in this year’s election.
The judges ordered a new map in June after ruling that lawmakers had racially gerrymandered eleven House districts by packing black voters into them.
On Tuesday, the judges chose new district lines from a series of proposals submitted by a special master. The judges gave all sides until Feb. 1 to file objections.
An analysis of the maps by the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project shows the plan could shift six Republican-held districts toward Democrats, including the district of House Speaker Kirk Cox, which would become 32 percent more Democratic.
