Virginia Democrats didn’t just lose a redistricting fight at the courthouse. One of their loudest victory laps is now boomeranging back in their faces.
The Virginia Supreme Court threw out the results of last month’s redistricting referendum, wiping out a mid-decade map overhaul Democrats had pitched as a major power play ahead of November’s midterms. The decision blocks Democrats from moving forward with a congressional redraw that supporters claimed could reshape Virginia’s delegation in Washington.
And it’s turning one Democratic leader’s trash-talk into a political punchline.
State Sen. L. Louise Lucas had openly celebrated the new lines and fundraising around them, touting an edgy slogan that leaned into the party’s map ambitions. In a post on X, Lucas wrote “We have now had over 100 “Ten F***in’ One” shirts ordered and raised over $5k to help defend our Virginia Senate Democratic majority that delivered these maps! Thank you! Tweet our slogan tonight and tag me if you would like me to follow back!”
The message, paired with a shirt graphic, framed the maps as a victory worth flaunting. But after the court ruling, that same post is being circulated as Exhibit A for critics who say Democrats weren’t chasing “fair maps,” they were chasing raw advantage.
The referendum had become a national flashpoint because of what the new lines were projected to do. Backers pointed to projections suggesting Virginia could shift from a 6-5 Democratic edge to a 10-1 split in Democrats’ favor. Republicans argued the plan was unconstitutional and politically motivated, and they sued repeatedly to stop it. The state Supreme Court agreed with challengers, finding the referendum process ran afoul of Virginia’s constitution. At the center of the dispute was the timing requirement for constitutional amendments, which must pass through two sessions of the General Assembly with a House election in between.
Screenshot-State Senator Louise Lucas X
Republicans argued the amendment was improperly advanced after early voting had already begun. Democrats maintained that an election is defined as a single day in November, not the early-voting period leading up to it. The court’s ruling rejected the referendum outcome, effectively slamming the brakes on Democrats’ mid-cycle map push.
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Now, the money spent on the fight is under a harsher spotlight. The state poured $5.2 million into holding the special election, and outside groups spent nearly $100 million trying to sway voters. With the referendum invalidated, Democrats are facing questions about why they rushed the process and why party leaders were already selling celebratory merch before the legal fight was finished.
The ruling is unusual, but not without precedent. In 1958, the Virginia Supreme Court invalidated the results of a local Arlington referendum after determining voters had approved an unconstitutional measure two years earlier, according to Cardinal News.
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The fight may not be over. Virginia election disputes have reached the U.S. Supreme Court before, including a 2024 case involving the state’s voter purge program.
But the immediate political damage is already done. Democrats who framed the redraw as a response to GOP gerrymanders now have to answer for their own language. Critics are pointing straight to Lucas’ post as proof the goal wasn’t reform. It was dominance.
In other words, the swagger aged fast.
And for Lucas, the “Ten F***in’ One” moment that was supposed to show confidence is now being used to argue she and her allies got caught celebrating a map the courts say never should have made it past the finish line.
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