{"id":208636,"date":"2026-04-23T12:07:38","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T12:07:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/gop-navigates-regret-and-recriminations-after-redistricting-loss-in-virginia-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T12:07:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T12:07:38","slug":"gop-navigates-regret-and-recriminations-after-redistricting-loss-in-virginia-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/gop-navigates-regret-and-recriminations-after-redistricting-loss-in-virginia-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP navigates 'regret' and recriminations after redistricting loss in Virginia – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Morning Rundown: Navy secretary’s firing surprises Congress, GOP anger over Virginia loss, and our NFL Draft predictions<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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Republicans were awash in recriminations Wednesday following their latest setback<\/a> in a redistricting battle that their party started ahead of the midterm elections but has struggled to win.
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The fallout came a day after voters in Virginia approved a plan<\/a> yesterday that could enable Democrats to gain as many as four new congressional seats in this fall.
The results there brought the overall mid-decade redistricting back-and-forth<\/a> to a draw, if not a slight advantage for the Democrats.
\u201cYou have to be very careful when you start breaking tradition to try to create an advantage,\u201d Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., said. \u201cI\u2019ve been very public in my criticism long before Virginia that we got to be better chess players than that. We have to understand that for every action, there are second- and third-order effects that we could live to regret. I don\u2019t think it was well thought out in the people pushing it.\u201d
Congressional redistricting typically happens once every 10 years, following a census, but President Donald Trump last year initiated a scramble<\/a> by urging GOP-led states to redraw their maps ahead of schedule \u2014 an effort to pad Republicans\u2019 three-seat House majority.
The result has been a flurry of hyperpartisan gamesmanship that could end without a clear edge for either party. <\/strong>Republicans were successful in enacting new maps in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina. But other states proved trickier to Trump\u2019s endgame. GOP lawmakers in Ohio, for example, settled on a new map<\/a> that many in the party felt was too generous to Democrats. And Republicans in Indiana resisted White House pressure<\/a> to redraw their lines.
Meanwhile, voters in California signed off on a new map last year that could net Democrats four or five new seats.
The way the fight has shaken out could put additional pressure on Florida Republicans, who are expected to hold a special legislative session<\/a> to take up a new a new congressional map next week.
Asked if the broader redistricting battle that\u2019s been waged over the past several months was worth it, Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina, the chair of House Republicans\u2019 campaign arm, demurred.
\u201cIt\u2019s not for me to decide that,\u201d Hudson said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t my decision.\u201d
Despite his early aggressive redistricting posture, Trump did little to campaign against the Virginia map, with the exception of an election eve \u201ctele-rally\u201d<\/a> with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. On Wednesday, both Trump and Johnson urged the courts to strike down the map.
\u201cAs everyone knows, I am an extraordinarily brilliant person, and even I had no idea what the hell they were talking about in the Referendum, and neither do they!\u201d Trump, referring to the Virginia measure, wrote on Truth Social<\/a>. \u201cLet\u2019s see if the Courts will fix this travesty of \u2018Justice.\u2019\u201d
A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Johnson, noting the close vote Tuesday, argued that a 10-to-1 map favoring Democrats \u201cis not justified in that state.\u201d
Democrats, for their part, were jubilant.
\u201cLast night was a big victory for the people of Virginia, a big victory for America and a big victory for democracy,\u201d House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told reporters. \u201cDonald Trump and Republicans launched this gerrymandering war, and we\u2019ve made clear, as Democrats, that we\u2019re going to finish it on behalf of the American people. We will not let Donald Trump rig the midterm elections by gerrymandering maps all across the country without a forceful Democratic response.\u201d
Jeffries also put Florida and its Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, on notice.
\u201cOur message to Florida Republicans,\u201d Jeffries said, \u201cis F around and find out.\u201d
Elsewhere in the GOP, reactions Wednesday ranged from regret to anger.
\u201cI think both sides will live to regret it, because it establishes a new precedent that has no end, and regardless of what happened in Virginia, California or Texas, we have a new standard,\u201d said Womack, referring to the broader redistricting arms race.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., called gerrymandering \u201cbad for our country,\u201d adding that \u201cnobody should ever go down this route.\u201d
And Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., who has introduced a bill to ban partisan gerrymandering, called Virginia\u2019s new map \u201ca f—–g joke.\u201d
\u201cI think everybody across both parties should recognize this is mutually assured destruction, and it is completely the antithesis of representative democracy,\u201d Lawler said.
A GOP consultant who works with multiple House Republicans said there are nuances \u2014 and fears of unintended consequences \u2014 that have kept members from jumping on board with the robust mid-decade redistricting.
\u201cA lot of incumbent Republican members of Congress are not in favor of new maps due to time constraints but, more importantly, because redistricting is a lot easier said than done,\u201d this person said. \u201cThat uncertainty combined with the real possibility of making some red districts purple is making many members reluctant to show any real interest in it.\u201d
But another Republican, Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee, suggested his party has been too restrained in the fight.
\u201cWe need to start playing hardball with this redistricting stuff,\u201d Burchett said. \u201cIt\u2019s ridiculous. We\u2019re going to lose everything because we don\u2019t have any guts to fight it. Oh, we don\u2019t want to get our hands dirty.\u201d
Asked by NBC News if party leaders should have done more in Virginia, Burchett replied: \u201cParty leaders need to get off their butts and do something. They need to quit complaining and start motivating.\u201d
Republicans lost their appetite for the fight after the White House and Ohio GOP leaders accepted a compromise map, rather than pushing for one that could have gained them at least two seats, said a Republican strategist with extensive Midwest experience.
\u201cOhio was absolutely the tipping point,\u201d said this person, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the White House\u2019s approach. \u201cOnce they settled in Ohio, in all the other states, the state legislators caved.\u201d
A high-ranking Republican operative downplayed the Virginia results, asserting that they should not be seen as detrimental to the GOP\u2019s effort to maintain control of the House.
\u201cOn the net, we\u2019re either tied or up one on pickups with Florida still to come,\u201d this person said. \u201cI don\u2019t think anyone\u2019s happy with the outcome [in Virginia], but we lost a battle. War still ongoing.\u201d
Henry J. Gomez is a senior national political reporter for NBC News
Melanie Zanona is a Capitol Hill correspondent for NBC News.
Kyle Stewart is a producer and off-air reporter covering Congress for NBC News, managing coverage of the House.
Jonathan Allen is a senior national politics reporter for NBC News.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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