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Former VA AG Explains Why The State's New Congressional Map is Likely To Be Struck Down

Dmitri Bolt
Dmitri Bolt  |  April 24, 2026 4:30 PM

Former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, in a CNN interview with Jake Tapper, explained why he believes it is highly likely the state Supreme Court will strike down Virginia’s latest congressional map, which passed narrowly earlier this week and would shift the delegation in a once evenly split state to 10 Democratic representatives and one Republican. 

Just a day after the referendum succeeded, a Tazewell County Circuit Court blocked the map from taking effect, calling the ballot language “flagrantly misleading.”

"So first, I guess let's get to the breaking news," Tapper said. "This judge in Southern Virginia ordering results to not be certified. The judge called the ballot language 'flagrantly misleading.' What's your reaction?"

"Well, it certainly was flagrantly misleading, but my basic reaction is that I appreciate lower court wins, but the Virginia Supreme Court is going to decide this," Cuccinelli replied. "And to Terry's point about, well, hey, if they didn't decide it before, there's a reason the Supreme Court held off until after the vote. Over a hundred years of Virginia legal precedent says that the vote in a referendum is part of the legislative process. It's analogous to a governor signing a bill. You don't sue on a bill that hasn't passed yet. So what they've done here in terms of timing is very much in keeping with the Virginia legal history. What isn't in keeping with Virginia legal history is how this general assembly has so blatantly ignored the requirements of the constitution to amend the [state] constitution."

"So I think it's highly likely that this will be overturned probably in May," he added.

Later in the interview, Cuccinelli was asked whether the amount of money spent on campaigning for or against the measure actually matters. He said it did for the vote on the measure, but added that the money spent simply doesn't matter if the referendum is ultimately unconstitutional.

"It's hard to say that money didn't make that difference, but now they have to win four constitutional challenges, state constitutional to clarify, challenges, and they have to win all four of them to hold on to this referendum," he argued.

I just don't think they can do it. There's some very basic processes in the constitution for amending the constitution that they ignored. And now they're gonna say, just like Terry did, well, you know, three million people voted and you can't ignore the will of the people. Well, they were ignoring the will of the people and how they brought this forward. And now we're gonna have it decided by the Virginia Supreme Court. I wouldn't be surprised to see a seven zero ruling throwing this out. 

This comes just days after Virginia voters approved one of the most gerrymandered congressional maps in recent history.