Cardinal News reports:
The Virginia General Assembly kicked off a special session on Monday aimed at redrawing the commonwealth’s Congressional map through a constitutional amendment, but the bill’s text has not yet been made available by Democrats who are championing the effort.
The special session comes on the heels of similar efforts in Texas, California and North Carolina and a handful of other states across the country. The effort began in Texas after President Donald Trump pushed the state’s Republicans to redraw their Congressional maps to create more GOP House seats in an effort to help the party maintain control of the House of Representatives after the midterm elections.
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House of Delegates Republicans held a press conference with the five Republican members of Virginia’s Congressional delegation ahead of the start of the session. Virginia’s Congressional Republicans could see their numbers dwindle should the effort to redraw the state’s districts through a constitutional amendment be successful.
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Rep. Ben Cline, R-Botetourt County, said the effort to redistrict Virginia’s maps was due to “strong arming” from the U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat from New York, and U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, also a Democrat from New York.
“Instead politics has led the day,” Cline said. “It is their motivation, it is what is leading them to travel all across the country to demand these redistrictings.”
Congressman Cline, of course, never voiced even the mildest disapproval of Trump’s strong arming of the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature and their supine willingness to do his bidding.
If he had, perhaps we could take his objection to the Democrats’ redistricting plan more seriously.
Sorry, Congressman: Your party doesn’t get to play by one set of rules and expect Democrats to play by another.
Cline Watch 