Democrat Groups Invest $19 Million to Pass Redistricting Referendum
by Ken Reid
Republicans have so far failed to get the state courts to stop an April 21 referendum to suspend bipartisan redistricting and enable the Democrat-controlled General Assembly to draw new maps to give them a 10-1 advantage in U.S. House races this fall.
And it would also seem Republicans are at a disadvantage to the Democrats – again! – in raising the money needed to get the gerrymandering defeated at the polls.
On VPAP.org the other day, I discovered that the top donors in Richmond are not Dominion Power or Michael Bills Clean Virginia, but two Washington, DC-based Democrat groups who are putting a combined in $19 million to pass the referendum.
House Majority Forward, which VPAP listed as giving $10 million, is described on its web site “a progressive, non-profit organization committed to promoting economic growth and opportunity, social justice, environmental stewardship, and democracy in the United States of America. We aim to achieve these core goals through aggressive advocacy of policies that move America in the right direction.”
The president of House Majority Forward is Mike Smith, a longtime Democratic Party staffer. Mike Smith is also the president of the House Majority PAC, a position he has held since January 2023, according to InfluenceWatch.com.
Punchbowl News Feb. 24 reported the party’s campaign, Virginians for Fair Elections, has already spent $5.3 million on ads and referenced the $10 million from House Majority Forward.
The other Democrat money group is “The Fairness Project,” which is listed at $9 million in donations.
According to its web site, the group’s “Ballot Measure Leadership Corps” is “dedicated to cultivating and sustaining elite campaign talent for ballot measure campaigns. By investing in top-tier campaign managers and senior staff, we bridge the gap between election cycles, ensuring that the best talent remains engaged and supported.”
I follow a lot of Republican Facebook pages where I constantly see activists complaining there are no signs for them, nor do they see anti-referendum ads on TV. Democrats are flooding Virginia cable and air waves with ads asking voters to say YES. Watch here:
I saw no group on VPAP.org to defeat the referendum. A number of groups have been formed, notably Virginians for Fair Maps by former Rep. Eric Cantor and former Attorney General Jason Miyares, but I don’t know what kind of money it is raising.
As much as the polls show Virginia voters do not want to even suspend bipartisan redistricting, which was overwhelmingly approved in 2020, money is key to victory in elections – and the referendum proponents have it. Republicans do not.
And this being a statewide referendum, all it takes is for Democrats to get a big turnout in Northern Virginia, and the Richmond and Norfolk areas, and they can win it. Just telling voters this is all about “STOPPING TRUMP” and Red states from gerrymandering Democrat House districts is enough to drive turnout in favor. Only Republicans and maybe some “good government’ minded voters will vote “No.”
The Virginia Supreme Court, and the circuit court in Lynchburg last week, was comfortable letting the referendum go forward despite Republicans getting a restraining order, and listening to arguments after April 21. Such wimps.
Can any of you see them overturning a referendum if it passes, and if by miracle it’s defeated, the court will throw the case out.
If Republicans want to win this and keep the state from losing four GOP congressmembers, they better start getting some money quickly.
Ken Reid, a resident of the Tysons/Falls Church area in Fairfax County, served 10 years in local elected office in Loudoun County and in recent months has been fighting antisemitism in the DC region as DC/MD/VA chapter leader for the group, EndJewHatred.com.
Republished with permission from Bacon’s Rebellion.
