April 6, 2026.
I’m Audrey Clement, the Independent candidate for Arlington County Board on November 3. As a 22-year Westover resident, long time civic activist, and past member of the Transportation Commission, I’m running for County Board because it has pushed harmful policies resulting in:
- cuts to libraries, fire rescue operations and other popular programs
- excessive taxation, and
- Missing Middle up-zoning with major impacts on traffic, schools, runoff and tree canopy.
By stretching the boundaries of existing Northern Virginia congressional districts into central Virginia, this measure will convert 4 of 5 remaining Republican congressional districts in the state into Democrat strongholds.
For example, the current CD 11, which comprises most of Fairfax County, will stretch from McLean to West Virginia. CD 8, which currently includes all of Arlington, will split between a new CD 8 running almost all the way to Newport News and CD 7 running south towards Richmond and west past Harrisonburg to the state line.
According to the Cardinal: “A 10-1 map would give Virginia the most aggressive gerrymander of any other state. Virginia’s only rival here would be Florida, a state where Republicans are seeking to squeeze out five more seats from an already gerrymandered map.”
The political fallout of a partisan gerrymander will be much greater here, because Virginia is currently one of the best apportioned states in the nation due to a referendum adopted in 2020 by a 2 to 1 margin that removed legislative redistricting from the state legislature to a bipartisan redistricting commission. When the commission deadlocked in 2021, redistricting reverted to the state supreme court, whose apportionment is generally considered fair.
Democrats defend Virginia’s partisan gerrymander as a way to get even with Trump, who encouraged Republican gerrymanders in Texas, North Carolina and Missouri netting 9 GOP seats in 2025. That gap was narrowed when Proposition 50 allowed California to expand its Democrat gerrymander by 5 seats, and Proposition 4 allowed Utah to gain 1 Democrat seat. Still the Democrats face a deficit in flipped congressional seats, and that’s why they are so determined to gerrymander Virginia.
Democrats claim that the will of Virginia voters as expressed in the lopsided vote to end partisan gerrymandering in 2020 has not been subverted, because the gerrymander is temporary, and the state will revert to bipartisan redistricting after the 2030 census.
This argument is bogus for several reasons:
- It ignores the partisan advantage given to newly minted incumbents in gerrymandered districts.
- The ballot question asks voters to “restore fairness in the upcoming elections” while packing Republicans into one MAGA district in the southwest corner of the state.
- On the misleading nature of the ballot question itself, the Washington Post said: “In Richmond, apparently ‘fairness’ means maximizing partisan advantage for Democrats and drawing incumbents out of their seats.”
- It sets a dangerous precedent whereby any provision of the Virginia Constitution can be set aside for the political convenience of the party then in power.