An amendment that would allow the General Assembly to redraw Virginia’s congressional districts passed its first hurdle Friday afternoon, when state senators voted 21-16 along party lines to approve it after about three hours of floor discussion.

The vote came days after the House of Delegates approved the amendment, sponsored by Del. Rodney Willett, in a 51-42 party-line vote during a special session marked by heated debates and statements both inside and outside the chambers. 

The constitutional amendment, if approved again by legislators in the next session and by voters in a state referendum, would allow legislators to redraw districts if another state redistricts for any purpose except to follow federal law, or to address unlawful or unconstitutional maps. 

Senate and House Democrats have said the amendment would not end the Virginia Redistricting Commission approved in 2020, and stressed that its approval would ultimately be decided by the voting public. 

Democrats have also characterized the amendment as an optional but necessary response to new maps recently drawn by Republican-controlled states after the Trump administration called on their legislators and leaders to change their districts, shifting their congressional representation. 

“Today, we are taking a truly proportional response to an extreme situation,” Democratic Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg said. “The current outbreak of opportunistic mid-decade redistricting means that we are in a truly unprecedented, constitutional norm-breaking time.” 

Republicans inside and outside the General Assembly, meanwhile, have cast the amendment as a gross overreach in authority.They have also challenged the purpose of the special session, called two weeks earlier by House Speaker Don Scott as a continuation of the 2024 special session, its timing in relation to the state election and its legality. 

“Texas embarking on a mid-decade redistricting was probably not a good idea,” Sen. Mark Peake said. “But because they engage in that endeavor.” have embarked on that endeavor does not mean that we have to 

Republicans made multiple legislative attempts to challenge or change the amendment throughout the session, including an amendment to authorize the Redistricting Commission to redraw maps that failed last Friday. 

Some also made appeals to Virginians to vote for Republican candidates as a way to prevent the amendment’s advancement next year. 

Legal challenges to the special session are ongoing, with lawsuits filed by House and Senate Republicans in Tazewell County and by circuit court clerks in Henrico, Spotsylvania and Lunenburg counties. 

The Tazewell suit was heard in court Nov. 5, a week after a motion for an emergency injunction against the session and amendment was rejected. A similar denial was made to the court clerks’ motion for a preliminary injunction and a temporary restraining order Monday.