The real comedy wasn’t that Virginia Democrats lost their shiny new congressional map Friday — it was watching social media roast them for allegedly setting $64 million on fire to get there.
After months of dark-money spending, slick ad campaigns and chest-thumping promises of a Democratic congressional takeover, the Virginia Supreme Court dropped the hammer and ruled the entire redistricting scheme unconstitutional. Just like that, the Democrats’ dream of carving Virginia into a near one-party congressional state went straight into the shredder.
The ruling detonated what had already become the most expensive ballot fight in Virginia history. Democratic-aligned group Virginians for Fair Elections hauled in more than $64 million backing the referendum — including nearly $40 million from House Majority Forward, the super PAC tied to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
And for what? A 4-3 court decision declaring the whole operation “null and void.”
The proposed map would have radically tilted Virginia’s congressional delegation toward Democrats, potentially handing them 10 of the state’s 11 House seats despite the state currently being closely divided politically. Republicans blasted the plan as a naked power grab masquerading as “fair elections.”
Online conservatives wasted no time twisting the knife.
“The funniest part about the court’s ruling that Virginia’s map is unconstitutional garbage is that the Democrats burned $64M just to get it thrown out,” conservative columnist Dustin Grage wrote on social media.
“Democrats incinerated nearly $70 million on an unconstitutional gerrymandering scheme in Virginia,” added commentator Steve Guest.
Even some non-conservatives online seemed stunned by the scale of the fiasco. Reddit users from across the political spectrum mocked Democrats for rushing the constitutional amendment process and handing Republicans an opening to challenge it in court.
The court ruled Democrats violated Virginia’s constitutional amendment process by advancing the referendum after early voting for the prior election had already begun. Under Virginia law, constitutional amendments must pass through two separate legislative sessions with an election in between — and the justices said Democrats cut corners.
Justice D. Arthur Kelsey’s majority opinion argued the rushed maneuver “irreparably undermines the integrity” of the referendum process. Republicans celebrated the ruling as a victory for election integrity and a rebuke of procedural gamesmanship.
Democrats, naturally, reacted like the court had canceled democracy itself.
Jeffries blasted the decision as an “undemocratic action” and vowed Democrats would explore “all options” to reverse it.
“No matter what it takes, House Democrats will win in November so we can help rescue this nation from the extremism being unleashed by Donald Trump and Republicans,” Jeffries declared.
That line triggered plenty of eye-rolls online considering Democrats had just spent tens of millions trying to engineer a map that critics said would all but erase GOP representation in the state.
Then came the collateral embarrassment.
Virginia state Sen. L. Louise Lucas — one of the loudest champions of the plan — had triumphantly branded the effort “Ten F—ing One,” a reference to Democrats potentially controlling 10 of Virginia’s 11 congressional seats.
After Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed the now-dead map into law earlier this year, Lucas gloated online: “You all started it and we f—ing finished it.”
That post aged about as well as warm milk.
“So did Louise Lucas still ‘F—ING FINISH IT?’” quipped journalist Charles Cooke.
GOP strategist Christian Martinez piled on: “Tough luck, @SenLouiseLucas — merch just got Supreme Court’d straight to the clearance rack.”
“Maybe try ‘Zero F—ing Wins’ next time,” he added.
The implosion comes as both parties wage all-out redistricting warfare ahead of the 2026 midterms. Republicans have aggressively redrawn maps in states like Texas, Florida, North Carolina and Tennessee, while Democrats attempted counter-moves in states such as California and Virginia.
But unlike Virginia Democrats, Republicans in several states actually managed to get their maps across the finish line.
To make matters even messier, Lucas is now facing separate political headaches after reports that the FBI raided her office this week as part of an investigation tied to a marijuana dispensary business she owns. No charges have been announced.
For Democrats, though, the bigger political damage may be self-inflicted: a mountain of cash, months of campaigning and endless rhetoric about “fairness” — all ending with the state’s highest court tossing the entire thing into the constitutional wood chipper.
