You may recall that in 2017 Democrats had their biggest legislative gains in Virginia since 1899-- winning 15 Republican-held seats in the House of Delegates. Unfortunately, the schnooks who run the state Democratic Party were-- as always-- aiming low and if not for grassroots progressives who they were ignoring, they wouldn't have done as well as "they" did.
Qasim RashidThe first time I ever heard about a non-partisan commission drawing election maps it came as part of a proposal to have blue California and red Texas mutually disarm. Democrats in control of the California legislature would cede the right to draw the maps in the Golden State and Republicans in control of the Texas legislature would do the same there. The California Democrats agreed.
In two days, this Tuesday, Virginia has a super-important election day-- primaries for the state legislature, with both houses on the verge of flipping blue. Some good news: Virginia has same day registration so potentially everyone over 18 can vote. Two years ago Democrats flipped 15 Republican-held seats blue in the House of Delegates, far more than the somewhat backward state party imagined was possible. The Republican majority is down to 51-49.
Five States have Legislative elections in 2019: Virginia, New Jersey, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Louisiana. All are important; however, only Virginia stands a reasonable shot to flip their Legislature’s majority from R to D, giving the Dems the right to the redraw the state's congressional and state legislative boundaries and prevent another GOP gerrymander.
