RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia’s two U.S. Senators have told the state Supreme Court that its proposed map for Virginia’s congressional districts puts “the heavy weight of change” on the state’s three congresswomen.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Friday that Democratic Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine shared their thoughts in a letter to the court.
“Although the proposed map makes some changes to each of Virginia’s eleven Congressional Districts, the most impactful geographic changes occur in the three districts currently represented by women,” the senators wrote.
The congresswomen, all Democrats, are Abigail Spanberger in the 7th District, Elaine Luria in the 2nd District and Jennifer Wexton in the the 10th District.
The senators said the congresswomen will “shoulder a disproportionate burden” of the proposed changes.
The court’s proposed map would move Spanberger’s 7th District from its base in the Richmond suburbs to northern Virginia. Luria would be drawn out of the state’s coastal 2nd District, while it would lose its portion of Norfolk and gain part of Chesapeake.
Wexton’s 10th District in northern Virginia would stretch from Albemarle County and through Fauquier to Loudoun County.
Virginia’s Supreme Court is redrawing the maps after Virginia’s new Redistricting Commission reached an impasse along partisan lines.