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Virginia Democrats just rolled out a surprise plan to do a mid decade redistricting in Virginia within the next six months to gain three Democratic seats in Congress in Virginia to further check MAGA Republicans effort to rig the midterms. This is in response of course to Donald Trump's efforts across the country to do mid decade gerrymandering redistricting restricting which we saw in Texas and Donald Trump is bringing to many other states. We saw that In California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom put on the ballot Prop 50 for voters to decide if there will be a mid decade redistricting in California, which would pick up a number of seats for Democrats in California to check what's going on in Texas. But Virginia Democrats have figured out a path forward there. Now. Whereas in California it required just one kind of special session and meeting of the legislature to take place and then to put it on the ballot in Virginia it requires a Constitutional amendment, it requires a vote from the people of Virginia, but it requires two meetings to take place of the legislature and one would have to take place immediately. That means a special session in Virginia's legislature would have to be called. Now while Democrats control both the House and the Senate, they control the House of Delegates 51 to 49 and the Senate 21 to 19. But to call a special session you would require 2/3 of the members in each chamber of the legislature to agree to hold a special session. Now, Democrats don't control 2/3, so how are they going to be able to call a special session? Well, the MAGA Republican governor who pretends not to be MAGA, Glenn Youngkin, back in May of 2024, called a special session in order to push through a budget when during a regular session, the various houses in the Virginia, in Virginia's legislature could not agree to a budget. But what happened was Glenn Youngkin forgot to adjourn the special session for May 2024. So because they never gaveled out and formally closed the special sess, Democrats realized there was a procedural error made by Youngkin. And we're still technically in a special session. So let's convene immediately. Let's take the first of the two votes that are needed to do this mid decade redistricting. All we need then is a majority in the House and the Senate to which Democrats control. So. But all Democrats in the House and the Senate need to vote in favor of this mid decade redistricting. Then you have the elections taking place on November 4th. Right. Um, and then the governor, as of now, seems that Abigail Spanberger is going to become the governor, which would be part, I guess, of the overall plan. If this takes place, there would be a regular session then convened in Virginia after the November election. That would be the second time. The vote would need to take place this time to then create this ballot initiative. And then you would have to do the ballot initiative. And then what you'd probably have to do is just push back the dates of the primaries, extend those dates in order to accommodate the constitutional amendment, which would change the independent commission in Virginia. Virginia has an independent kind of gerrymandering commission, the way that you do in California. So it would require two votes. The way you're going to get one vote now is because Youngkin forgot to gavel out of the special session for May 2024. The Democrats realized that there'll be an election, there'll be regular session vote, it'll become a ballot initiative, there'll be a vote on it, um, and then other deadlines would be extended. Now, this could help pick up three additional seats for Democrats. So between California and Virginia, you would go a long way to check what is going on with Trump's efforts to gerrymander in various other states. So a power move there in Virginia. Governor Youngkin is livid about this. He realized he screwed up by not gaveling out and formally adjoining the last special session. They made this procedural error where they screwed up big time. So watch. Young can say, this is nuts. This is nuts. We screwed up, but this is nuts. He's right now, but you shouldn't be. This is what Donald Trump is doing across the country. All Democrats are doing in California and now in Virginia is responding to what Donald Trump did. That's it. If Donald Trump doesn't do this, Democrats don't want to do this. In fact, if you look at the House and the Senate in Congress, Democrats have voted to eliminate partizan gerrymandering. Democrats support the for the People Act. Let's get rid of gerrymandering. Let's get rid of the Citizens United decision. Let's just have election reform and let's not have big money in elections. And Republicans are the ones who support all of this. So it's obvious where this is coming from. But Democrats need to fight fire with fire. Watch Youngkin Wine right here as he realizes what went down. Let's play this clip. And now here they are trying to override the vote of Virginians and take votes away from Virginians in order to drive this crazy political aspiration to make Virginia look like California.
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I want to give a hat tip to Dave Veneer and Jeff Singer. They described this in a recent article as well this Surprise Plan Launched by Democrats here's how they describe it In a major surprise, Democrats in the Virginia Legislature announced this past week that they'd convene a special session on Monday, likely to consider congressional redistricting. Such a move could result in the state using a new map as soon as next year, before the midterms in the state and see Republicans lose up to three states. Sorry, three seats in the state's delegation, which currently favors Democrats 6 to 5, quote, we're coming back to address actions by the Trump administration, state Senate Majority Leader Scott Surville told the New York Times Reed Epstein, who confirmed the story first reported by Virginia Scopes Brandon Jarvis about the possibility of a special session. Senator Surville, the Democratic leader, didn't directly state whether Democrats would try to revisit Virginia's maps, but political observers believe the topic will be on the agenda. Any response to the GOP's push to gerrymander the lines in red states before the midterms, however, will require speedy action, Democratic unanimity and success at the ballot box on two different dates, as I described. That's because redistricting in Virginia is in the hands of an independent commission, which was enshrined in the state constitution following a landslide vote in 2020. As in California, repealing or modifying those rules would require voters to approve a new constitutional amendment. That process, though, is considerably tougher in Virginia. In California, the legislature only needs to vote once to refer an amendment to the ballot. In virgin Virginia, by contrast, lawmakers must approve an amendment twice, with an election for the House of Delegates in between. That's why Democrats want to hold a vote before November 4, Monday, when this the vote would be this Monday, when Virginia will host elections for statewide offices like governor and crucially, the state House. Remember, that's an Abigail Stepan Burger election race, where she's expected to win as the Democratic governor Normally, Democrats wouldn't be able to gather on such sort notice, since two thirds of members in each chamber of the legislature must agree to hold the special session while the governor can also call a special session. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, would never do so to help the Democrats. But as Epstein explains, Youngkin already called a special session for May of last year. That meeting became necessary after the two parties failed to agree on a budget during the regular session, which had concluded a month earlier. Between the two gatherings, both sides hammered out a budget agreement, then passed it the very same day during the special session. That session, however, was never formally adjourned, giving legislative leaders the ability to summon lawmakers back to work whenever they desire. It's precisely that power Democrats are deploying now. They currently hold the 51 to 49 majority in the chamber, as well as a 21 to 19 edge in the state Senate. So when they meet again, they'll need the support of every member to pass a new amendment. They'll also need to retain control of the House next month. What they appear poised to do the Senate is not up until 2027. If anything, they're likely to gain seats. Democrats have outra Republicans better than 2 to 1 per Ballotpedia and have spent three times as much on the airwaves according to Ad Impact. So if all goes according to plan, the legislature would then need to greenlight the amendment a second time after it assembles for its regularly scheduled session in January. They'd also need to schedule a special session to put the matter before voters, which under the state constitution could take place no sooner than 90 days later. That tight timeline would almost certainly require the state to delay its candidate filing deadline which is April 2nd and likely it's June six primary as well to alter the calendar. It goes on to say Democrats would likely need Abigail Spamberger to prevail in her campaign to succeed Youngkin and that's expected to happen, which she's favored to do based on public polling and spending data. Should they have the chance to pass a new maps, Democrats could target two or three Republican held districts. So I think this is a really big deal right here. Now I've had the opportunity to interview Virginia's Democratic Speaker Don Scott and I got his take on the upcoming election and he described how William Earl Sears who's running to as the MAGA Republican candidate what what she had to say and she's basically saying that she'll she's fine winsome Earl se she thinks it's not discrimination if you fire gay people Here, play this clip, I guess make sense of those clips and then we'll get into have you react.
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I can't make sense of that. Are you asking me to perform a miracle? I mean, this lady is so unhinged and so out of touch with everything that she says. I mean, you would have thought it would have been a joke. I was sitting in the room when she said that. You know, she said she wants to fire people because they gay. And she interrupts her to, to I've never seen, but interrupt her to say, excuse me, that's not discrimination. And she says it two or three times. I have never seen anything like that in my life. You know, if, if, if you can make sense of it, let me know. I mean, there's some psychiatrists or somebody out there that may be able to give her the help that she needs.
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But yeah, I'll ask you, not as the psychiatrist, but as the speaker of the House of Delegates though. So when you hear these MAGA Republicans in Virginia, by the way, including the governor, basically saying things like it's okay for Virginians to lose their jobs, it's happened to people before. Why do people make a big deal? We hear the MAGA Republican governor saying that right now. We hear win some rose. What's your response to that?
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I mean, it's sad and I don't think they're connecting with real people. I mean, the empathy that you, that's required. Okay, you, first of all, you won't stand up to Donald Trump. We know you're all sycophants. You're just going to fall in line whatever he says. But then the fact that you will not even, you know, try to empathize with the people whose lives are being upended, you lose your job. Like, okay, she's making it sound like this is a job at McDonald's. And like you, you've been working there a couple of years, you're in high school. These are people whose whole livelihoods are built around their employment. They've moved to a region for this job. They're putting kids through college, they're paying their mortgages, they're paying their bills. They're trying to make a life for themselves and their families. They're taking care of, of elderly parents. To see someone so detached from the pain and suffering that the Trump administration is causing is really sad. And it just tells you that they have no idea what everyday hardworking Virginias are going through. And then when you couple that with, you know, the chief's running with a person on her ticket. He was a lieutenant governor who happens to be gay. So you put all of that together, you start saying these people just, you can't make this stuff up. You really can't.
D
I didn't even, I didn't realize that fact. She's, she's running with a gay person and she made that comment, she's running.
F
The lieutenant governor, he's gay. And I guess she, I guess you're going to fire him. I don't know.
D
Here was another portion of my interview with Don Scott, Democratic speaker of Virginia. Play this clip.
F
You know, I always say Virginia is for lovers. And I think we're going to send a love letter to the rest of the country that we have not all lost our damn mind. You know, Republicans are focused on one thing in Virginia. I mean, her whole race is, you know, on, you know, policing bathrooms. I mean, they're the, they're the pee and poop caucus. That's what they, that's all they do. They police where the kids are peeing and pooping. They're not worrying about where kids are learning and what they're getting out of school.
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Now, folks, I think it's also important to take a look at the popularity of Proposition 50 in California. The most. The latest poll by YouGov shows that by a margin of 62% to 38% people support Prop 50 in California to stop the election rigging by Donald Trump to allow this mid decade gerrymandering, this short, this on short notice to take place in California in response to Trump cheating. Should also be noted that already, as of two days ago, 3 million California votes were already made with Prop 50. That's faster than what we saw in the 2024 general. And also one of the things that we see is turnout is more democratic than the 2024 election. Net +23 democrat compared to net +19 democrat in 2024. That's a big deal right there as well. And just to remind you about this race, Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic candidate, Congresswoman or congresswoman against winsome Earl Sears. Winsome Earl Sears. The Midas Touch network found this clip of her. And this is the ad that Spamberger made about Winsome Earl Sears. Play this clip.
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I'm Abigail Spanberger, candidate for governor and I sponsored this ad. Mega Republican Winsome Earl Sears.
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I am speaking.
B
I am speaking. And when she speaks it gets more disturbing. I can't support abortion. And she talks about violence against those who disagree with her.
D
Murder is murder. And one day it's gonna be your.
B
Turn talking about the murder of those who support abortion rights. If Sears said this, what else is out there? Winsomer Sears so far right, she's wrong for Virginia.
D
And we're just to remind you about what went down at the debate with Winsomerle Sears here. Play this clip right here.
B
My opponent has previously said that she does not think that gay couples should be allowed to marry. She has said that she discrimination.
D
Well, there you have it folks. Let me know what you think. But a big move by Virginia, a surprise move that you gotta fight fire with fire. And I'm glad Virginia Democrats figured out that loophole. Let me know what you think. Hit subscribe let's get to 6 million. We appreciate you want to stay plugged in.
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Become a subscriber to our substat@midasplus.com you'll get daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski ad free episodes of our podcast and more exclusive content only available@midasplus.com.
Date: October 26, 2025
Hosts: Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas
In this high-energy episode, the Meiselas brothers break down a stunning and strategic move by Virginia Democrats to counteract Republican gerrymandering efforts ahead of the upcoming midterms. Leveraging a procedural loophole discovered due to Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin’s error, Virginia Democrats are swiftly maneuvering to initiate a mid-decade redistricting effort aimed at netting additional congressional seats for Democrats. The hosts contextualize these developments within the broader fight against Trump-led efforts to manipulate district maps nationwide. The show features quotes from legislative leaders, spirited analysis, and sharp criticism of Republican rhetoric and policy positions, all delivered with the trademark MeidasTouch banter and urgency.
[01:01 - 07:03]
Notable Quote:
“Governor Youngkin is livid about this. He realized he screwed up by not gaveling out and formally adjoining the last special session. They made this procedural error... This is what Donald Trump is doing across the country. All Democrats are doing in California and now in Virginia is responding to what Donald Trump did.” — [D, 06:25]
Notable Moment:
[Impersonating Youngkin] “Watch Youngkin say, ‘This is nuts. This is nuts, we screwed up, but this is nuts.’ He’s right now, but you shouldn’t be. This is what Donald Trump is doing across the country.” — [D, 06:45]
[08:53 - 13:40]
Notable Quote:
“If all goes according to plan, the legislature would then need to greenlight the amendment a second time after it assembles for its regularly scheduled session in January. They’d also need to schedule a special session to put the matter before voters...” — [D, 11:58]
[13:40 - 16:34]
Notable Quotes:
“She said she wants to fire people because they’re gay... I have never seen anything like that in my life. If you can make sense of it, let me know. I mean, there’s some psychiatrists or somebody out there that may be able to give her the help that she needs.” — Don Scott, [F, 14:03]
“She’s making it sound like this is a job at McDonald’s... These are people whose whole livelihoods are built around their employment... To see someone so detached from the pain and suffering... is really sad.” — Don Scott, [F, 14:43]
“Virginia is for lovers. And I think we’re going to send a love letter to the rest of the country that we have not all lost our damn mind... [Republicans] are the pee and poop caucus. That’s all they do; they police where the kids are peeing and pooping. They’re not worrying about where kids are learning...” — Don Scott, [F, 16:11]
[16:34 - 17:51]
[17:51 - 18:34]
Notable Quote:
“Winsome Earl Sears—so far right, she’s wrong for Virginia.” — [B, 18:21]
[18:34 - End]
Memorable Closing:
“A big move by Virginia, a surprise move that you gotta fight fire with fire. And I’m glad Virginia Democrats figured out that loophole.” — [D, 18:34]
The episode is fast-paced, savvy, and blends legal/political explanation with biting humor and pointed critiques—especially toward Republicans' procedural missteps and social issue stances. The brothers combine in-depth policy know-how with relatable, sometimes comedic, commentary, making high-stakes redistricting both accessible and urgent.
This episode is essential listening for those tracking the fight for democracy and fair elections in 2025.