As goes Virginia

Governor Abigail Spanberger, a liberal wolf in moderate clothing, has led a campaign to redraw the state's congressional districts so that all but one will guarantee the election of Democrats to Congress. An anti-gerrymandering ad by Virginians for Fair Maps featured an AI-generated video of a smiling Spanberger lighting a match and pouring gasoline (at more than $4 a gallon?) on a barn, claiming she wants to "burn Virginia's democracy to the ground." The ad criticizes her for supporting the referendum that would allow the majority Democrat General Assembly to immediately redraw congressional maps.

It is a shameless grab for power.

Former President Barack Obama is among the big name Democrats who have either recorded TV ads in favor of the referendum, or shown up in person to campaign for it. Speaker Mike Johnson, former Republican Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, and other high-profile Republicans have done the same for the "no" side.

President Donald Trump can be blamed for starting the process. Last year he urged Texas Republicans to redraw House districts to give the GOP more House seats. In doing so, he triggered an unusual round of mid-decade redistricting in other states, including California, which already has a large Democrat majority in Congress.

Florida lawmakers will meet April 28 to vote on whether to redistrict more of that state. Florida already has a numerical advantage of 20 Republicans to eight Democrats in House seats.

The Washington Post reports, "The vast majority of the nearly $100 million raised to sway Virginia's redistricting battle, mostly on the Democratic side, consists of untraceable dark money." Cardinal News reports: "More than $79 million has been spent on Virginia's ‘yes' and ‘no' redistricting referendum campaigns since February; roughly $76 million of that is from ‘dark money' groups that don't have to disclose their donors." This won't be investigated because Democrats have a large majority in the House of Delegates and they, or their agendas, are beneficiaries of that dark money.

Democrat strategist James Carville has revealed the goal of Democrats should they win back the majority in Congress and the 2028 presidential election. Appearing on Al Hunt's podcast, Carville said: "If the Democrats win the presidency and both houses of Congress, I think on day one, they should make Puerto Rico [and] D.C. a state, and they should expand the Supreme Court to 13. F**k it. Eat our dust."

If they think President Trump acts like a dictator what would Carville's goal look like?

It's all a sham and voters are being played. Past elections repeat the same promises and attacks, but little happens, except the debt grows as do the taxes in most Democrat states. And then there are the growing number of sex scandals.

One hears so much talk about "power," but if real power lies with politicians, things should have long ago changed for the better?

Six days before Tuesday's election, a George Mason University poll found 53 percent of respondents say they plan to vote "Yes" on the gerrymandering measure, while 44 percent intend to vote "No." The poll also suggests strong voter engagement, with roughly 60 percent of registered voters expected to participate in the April 21 election.

Regardless of the outcome in Virginia and other states that are trying it, the courts should disallow such blatant gerrymandering as unconstitutional. Redistricting is supposed to take place every 10 years (it's in the Constitution) and not in between elections to favor one party or the other.

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Cal Thomas, America's most-syndicated columnist, is the author of 10 books.