Obama Urges Virginians to Vote ‘Yes’ on Redistricting Referendum

Virginia voters could be forgiven for wondering where Barack Obama stands on gerrymandering.

The former president is appearing in videos and ads pushing Virginians to vote “Yes” on a Democratic-backed referendum next week on whether to redraw the state’s House map to give the party more seats. But the Republican-backed “No” side is running TV ads that highlight his past opposition to partisan gerrymandering.

The dueling Obama ads have confused voters, according to the referendum’s Democratic supporters, who have grown increasingly anxious about the vote in the final days before Election Day on Tuesday.

If the referendum passes, Democrats would have a stronger chance of winning back the House in the midterm elections in November. The party now controls six of Virginia’s 11 House seats, but the proposed map could pave the way for it to win as many as 10 of them. The vote is part of the nationwide gerrymandering arms race that President Trump and Republicans instigated last year in Texas.

Democrats in Virginia say that the “Yes” side may well win — the state is light blue, and the national environment is darkening for Republicans. But while other states have swung away from Republicans during Mr. Trump’s second term, Virginia appears to be moving back toward them since Gov. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, took office in January.

Worried Virginia Democrats point to falling approval numbers for Ms. Spanberger, low grass-roots energy and muddled messaging in a campaign that has failed to capitalize on lavish funding. Even if the “Yes” side wins, state Democrats believe it could be by significantly less than Ms. Spanberger’s 15-point margin of victory last year, sending a warning signal to otherwise energized Democrats ahead of the midterms.