Dem
47
GOP
53
Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) campaigned as a moderate and doesn't want to blow that image by jumping into the gerrymandering wars headfirst. She signaled support for the plan to redraw Virginia's congressional map in January, but has stopped short of enthusiastically supporting it. She said that she won VA-01 (R+3) and VA-02 (EVEN) in November and Democrats could probably flip those Republican-held seats even without a new map. But if Democrats also have their sights on VA-06 (R+6), that would require some assistance from the cartographers.
Rather than focusing on mapmaking, she has mostly talked about affordability, improving the schools, and getting basic governance done. Of course, what she says in public and what she tells the state legislators could be different. She would not be the first politician whose public image is at odds with their backroom sausage-making. In any event, if the legislators are hell-bent on flipping two, maybe three House seats, Spanberger can just stay above the fray and have it both ways. The legislators change the map and she can talk about education, health care and getting prices down, without getting in the legislators' way. (V)