House Speaker Mike Johnson is scrambling after voters in Virginia approved a new congressional map that could hand Democrats a major advantage—openly urging the courts to step in and undo the result.
Just one day after the vote, Johnson blasted the redistricting plan as a “hyper-partisan, gerrymandering boondoggle,” despite the fact that it was approved by voters at the ballot box. The new map could give Democrats a path to picking up as many as four House seats—raising alarm bells for Republicans ahead of a high-stakes election cycle.
“We did our best,” Johnson told reporters. “But Democrats in charge of Virginia foisted this upon the people.”
Now, he’s looking to the Virginia Supreme Court to reverse it.
Johnson said he expects the court to “do the obvious and right result” by striking down the map, even as critics point out that it reflects the will of voters in a closely divided state.
Calling Virginia a “50-50” battleground, Johnson argued the outcome doesn’t add up, pointing to the narrow margin of the vote as evidence the map is flawed.
But the political reality is clear: control of the House could hinge on just a handful of seats, and this map threatens to tilt the balance away from Republicans—and from allies of Donald Trump.
The reaction online was swift, with critics accusing Johnson and the GOP of trying to overturn the will of voters after losing at the ballot box, while some Republicans openly called for aggressive redistricting in GOP-controlled states to counter the shift.
For now, Johnson’s hopes rest with the courts—but the optics are already drawing backlash as Republicans push to undo a map voters just approved.
Watch the video below:
“A HYPER-PARTISAN GERRYMANDERING BOONDOGGLE”
Speaker Mike Johnson not holding back on Democrats’ extreme redistricting move in Virginia that could FLIP control of the House after this year’s midterm elections.
Johnson says he is CONFIDENT that the state’s Supreme Court will… pic.twitter.com/OiTaiFl5Yx
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 22, 2026
