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\n\tVirginia\u2019s plan to redraw its congressional maps to create as many as four new Democratic seats is dead, struck down by the state supreme court<\/a>. Its impact on Virginia politics, though, is still being felt \u2014 and nowhere more visibly than in Virginia\u2019s First District.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n The district, which covers much of Virginia\u2019s coastline and includes parts of the Richmond suburbs, is one of the few in the country that is actually competitive, and it’s been thrown into chaos due to the ongoing gerrymandering wars that have consumed the 2026 midterm cycle. <\/p>\n\n To learn more, I traveled there last month for the latest episode of Vox\u2019s video podcast, America, Actually<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n Originally, Virginians voted to redraw their maps to be more favorable to Democrats in response to Republican efforts to do the same in Missouri, Texas, and elsewhere<\/a>. But a court effort threw out that result, restoring the state’s original maps and sowing uncertainty for candidates and volunteers who had been advocating for the change.<\/p>\n\n Even more, Virginia has become a place where the underlying tensions in the gerrymandering battle have begun to bubble up to the surface. Newly elected Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger\u2019s approval rating has taken a hit<\/a> since endorsing the Democrats’ campaign to draw new maps, and she recently admonished House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries against pursuing his “maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time” strategy when it comes to redistricting. (The phrase, as Jeffries has noted<\/a>, isn\u2019t original to him: It\u2019s also how the Trump camp described its own redistricting efforts<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n “It is outrageously premature of us to be talking about any sort of redistricting or map changing effort when we have to win the most consequential midterms of my lifetime this November,” Spanberger told the New York Times<\/a> in May.<\/p>\n\n On our trip to Virginia\u2019s First District, America, Actually<\/em> spoke with Democratic volunteers who had organized for the referendum and were now pivoting to selecting a primary candidate. We also attended a candidate forum at the Libbie Mill Library in Richmond, Virginia, where several candidates vying to be the Democratic nominee in the district made their pitches to voters.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n At events like this, it\u2019s easier to see how the party\u2019s message for the midterms is taking shape. Here are three takeaways: <\/p>\n