2026年5月8日 美国东部时间上午10:25 / 美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）
作者：德文·科尔、帕特里克·斯维特克
更新于2026年5月8日 美国东部时间上午11:43
朱莉亚·德马雷·尼基森/美联社/档案照片
弗吉尼亚州最高法院否决了民主党试图在4月公投中重绘该州美国国会众议院选区地图的举措，这对民主党在总统唐纳德·特朗普发起的本轮中期选举前全国重划选区斗争中的努力是毁灭性打击。
法院裁定，此次公投的制定程序违反了州宪法。
“联邦政府以史无前例的方式向弗吉尼亚州选民提交了宪法修正案提案，违反了 intervening-election（中间选举）要求，”大法官D·阿瑟·凯尔西在多数意见书中写道，他援引了州法中规定 ballot referendums（选票公投）提交选民流程的条款。“这一违规行为不可挽回地破坏了随后公投结果的完整性，使其归于无效。”
这一裁决对众议院民主党人及其在中期选举中拿下众议院多数席位的希望而言是重大挫折。尽管得益于历史趋势和特朗普的不受欢迎程度，民主党人在11月拿下美国众议院的形势依然有利，但他们原本希望通过重绘弗吉尼亚州的选区地图，抵消特朗普要求共和党在其他州重划选区带来的优势。
弗吉尼亚州的重划选区方案原本能让民主党多赢得最多四个席位，有可能将该州的共和党议席缩减至仅一席。在公投举行前，共和党全国委员会及其他共和党人就公投的规划和实施方式提起了一系列诉讼。弗吉尼亚州最高法院当时允许投票在相关诉讼悬而未决的情况下进行。
在全美逐州重划美国国会众议院选区的斗争中，民主党目前落后共和党八个席位。而在美国最高法院裁决削弱《选举权法案》关键条款后，南部各州重新启动选区重划程序，共和党可能会进一步扩大优势。
支持此次重划选区公投的主要组织“弗吉尼亚人支持公平选举”称，这一裁决的影响是“弗吉尼亚州、整个国家乃至我们整个民主制度的一个令人深感不安的时刻”。
“这场战斗并未结束，”该组织在一份声明中表示。“因为从根本上说，这不仅仅关乎一场选举——而是关乎我们的民主是由选民决定，还是选票投出后权力就会被夺走。”
众议院少数党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯在一份声明中表示，公投支持者“正在探索所有推翻这一令人震惊的裁决的途径”。
“推翻整场选举的决定是史无前例且违背民主的行为，绝不能容忍，”杰弗里斯说道。
特朗普在Truth Social平台上庆祝了这一裁决。
“共和党和美国在弗吉尼亚州取得了巨大胜利，”特朗普发帖称。
法院的裁决内容
法院表示，2021年确定的选区地图将在11月的选举中继续使用。三名大法官对该裁决表示异议。
根据州宪法，州议会必须进行两次投票，才能将拟议的宪法修正案提交选民审议，且两次投票之间必须间隔一次大选。共和党人辩称，州议会在2025年10月底进行的首次批准公投的投票无效，因为当时大选的提前投票已全面展开。
法院支持了这一主张。
“弗吉尼亚州的提前投票选民在不知情的情况下，丧失了受宪法保护的投票支持或反对支持或反对修宪的议员的机会，因为他们没有料到立法机构会在投票最后一天前四天就宪法修正案进行投票，”凯尔西为四名法官组成的多数方写道。
除了程序上的反对意见，批评民主党友好的选区方案在立法过程中的推进方式外，该裁决还批评了新地图，同时赞扬了2021年的版本。2021年的地图是由法院任命的两名重划选区专家绘制的，此前2020年选民批准的州重划选区委员会未能拿出方案。
“这些新选区取代了现有的无党派地图（两党席位划分为6-5），取而代之的是高度党派化的选区划分（预计两党席位将达到10-1），”凯尔西写道。
首席大法官克利奥·鲍威尔在异议意见中表示，多数方错误地将“选举”一词的含义扩大到包括提前投票期，她说这“与弗吉尼亚州和联邦法律对选举的定义直接冲突”。
“将弗吉尼亚州的选举延长至单日之外，多数方的提法将与联邦关于联邦公职选举必须在单日举行的规定直接冲突，”她写道。
对中期选举的影响
这一裁决给民主党为通过该法案所付出的巨大努力蒙上了阴影——该法案最终以略低于52%的得票率获得通过。众议院少数党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯多次为其竞选造势，众议院多数党PAC（众议院民主党竞选的主要超级PAC）的非营利分支为“支持”阵营投入了超过3800万美元。
“情况不妙。我们夺回众议院的努力遭遇重大挫折，不过我们仍有可能获胜，”一名资深民主党官员告诉CNN。“但竞选之路变得更加崎岖了。”
共和党人一直坚称，他们将无视11月中期选举前面临的政治逆风。众议院共和党竞选机构负责人、北卡罗来纳州众议员理查德·哈德森在一份声明中表示，这一裁决“又是一个迹象，表明共和党在11月前掌握着势头”。
“这对公平选举和法治来说都是伟大的一天，对弗吉尼亚州来说也是伟大的一天，”该州共和党议员之一、其选区成为目标的本·克莱因在X平台上写道。
众议院民主党竞选机构负责人、华盛顿州众议员苏珊·德尔贝内在一份声明中表示：“这一挫折向美国人民传递了一个糟糕的信息——有权有势的精英将竭尽所能让你闭嘴。”
本文已更新补充最新进展。
CNN的达纳·巴什和伊桑·科恩对本文亦有贡献。
Virginia Supreme Court blocks referendum that would have helped Democrats win up to four more US House seats
May 8, 2026 10:25 AM ET / CNN
By Devan Cole, Patrick Svitek
Updated May 8, 2026, 11:43 AM ET
A poster on the Virginia redistricting referendum is seen during voting at Mason Square in Alexandria, Virginia, on April 21.
Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP/File
The Virginia Supreme Court voided Democrats’ attempt to redraw the state’s US House map in an April referendum, a devastating blow to the Democratic Party’s efforts in the national redistricting battle launched by President Donald Trump ahead of this fall’s midterms.
The court ruled that the process of creating the referendum violated the state Constitution.
“The Commonwealth submitted a proposed constitutional amendment to Virginia voters in an unprecedented manner that violated the intervening-election requirement,” Justice D. Arthur Kelsey wrote in the majority opinion, referring to a provision of state law that mandates how ballot referendums can be put to voters. “This violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void.”
The ruling is a major setback to House Democrats and their hopes of capturing the chamber’s majority in the midterms. While they remain in a strong position to win the US House in November due to historical trends and Trump’s unpopularity, Democrats were hoping the redrawing of Virginia’s maps could counteract GOP redistricting gains elsewhere that Trump had demanded.
The redistricting in Virginia would have given Democrats the chance to win as many as four more seats, potentially reducing the state’s GOP representation to a single district. Prior to the referendum, the Republican National Committee and other Republicans filed a series of lawsuits objecting to how the referendum was planned and conducted. The state Supreme Court let the vote go forward with those court cases pending.
Democrats are now eight seats behind Republicans in the national battle to redraw US House maps state by state. And the GOP could make further gains as Southern states reopen their maps following a US Supreme Court ruling that gutted a key provision of the Voting Rights Act.
Virginians for Fair Elections, the leading group backing the redistricting referendum, called the impact of the ruling a “deeply troubling moment for Virginia, the nation, and our entire democracy.”
“This fight is not over,” the group said in a statement. “Because at its core, this is bigger than one election — it’s about whether voters decide our democracy, or whether that power can be taken away after the votes are cast.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement that supporters of the referendum were “exploring all options to overturn this shocking decision.”
“The decision to overturn an entire election is an unprecedented and undemocratic action that cannot stand,” Jeffries said.
Trump celebrated the ruling on Truth Social.
“Huge win for the Republican Party, and America, in Virginia,” Trump posted.
What the court ruled
The court said that maps put in place in 2021 must be used in the November elections instead. Three justices dissented from the court’s ruling.
Under the state constitution, the General Assembly must vote twice before sending a proposed constitutional amendment to voters for their consideration, with a general election intervening between those votes. Republicans argued that the first vote to approve the referendum – taken in late October 2025 – by the General Assembly did not count because early voting for the general election was well underway.
The court agreed.
“Early Virginia voters unknowingly forfeited their constitutionally protected opportunity to vote for or against delegates who favor or disfavor amending the Constitution by not anticipating a legislative vote on a constitutional amendment four days before the last day of voting,” Kelsey wrote for the four-justice majority.
In addition to the court’s procedural objections to how the Democratic-friendly plan made its way through the legislative process, the decision also criticizes the new map while praising the 2021 version. That map had been drawn by a pair of redistricting experts appointed by the court itself after the state’s redistricting commission, which voters had approved in 2020, failed to produce a map.
“These new districts replace the existing nonpartisan map (representing districts split 6-5 between the two major political parties) with a highly partisan gerrymandered map (representing expected districts divided 10-1 between the two major political parties),” Kelsey wrote.
Writing in dissent, Chief Justice Cleo Powell said the majority had wrongly expanded the meaning of the word “election” to include the early voting period, which she said “is in direct conflict with how both Virginia and federal law define an election.”
“By extending elections in the Commonwealth of Virginia beyond a single day, the majority’s formulation would directly conflict with the federal mandate that elections for federal offices be held on a single day,” she wrote.
What it means for the midterms
The ruling casts a dark cloud over the massive Democratic effort that went into passing the measure, which passed with just under 52 percent of the vote. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries campaigned for it multiple times, and the nonprofit arm of House Majority PAC, the leading Democratic super PAC in House races, gave over $38 million to “yes” campaign.
“Not good. A major upset in our bid to win House back, though we still can prevail,” one senior Democratic official told CNN. “But the hill just got a little steeper.”
Republicans have been insisting they will defy the political headwinds they face ahead of November’s midterms. Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina, head of the House GOP campaign arm, said in a statement that the ruling “is yet another sign Republicans have the momentum heading into November.”
“This is a great day for fair elections and the rule of law, and it’s a great day for the Commonwealth of Virginia,” Rep. Ben Cline, one of the Virginia Republicans whose districts was targeted, wrote on X.
Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington state, who leads the House Democrats’ campaign arm, said in a statement: “This is a setback that sends a terrible message to Americans – the powerful and elite will do everything they can to silence you.”
This story has been updated with additional developments.
CNN’s Dana Bash and Ethan Cohen contributed to this report.