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Jeffries warns Florida Republicans after Democrats’ win in Virginia

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by Sophie Brams - 04/22/26 9:15 AM ET

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by Sophie Brams - 04/22/26 9:15 AM ET

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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday celebrated the passage of a referendum redrawing congressional lines in Virginia while issuing a stern warning to Republicans in Florida, the next front in the redistricting battle.

Old Dominion State voters approved a measure that could help Democrats notch four more House seats in the midterms, an effort aimed at counterbalancing mid-cycle redistricting attempts happening in GOP-led states.

The referendum asked voters to approve a constitutional amendment allowing Democrats to draw new congressional lines in their favor in 10 out of 11 House districts. The party currently holds a 6-5 edge in the commonwealth’s congressional delegation.

Jeffries, in a statement shared by Punchbowl News late Tuesday said Virginians spoke with a “crystal-clear voice, voting to stop the MAGA power grab and protect the integrity of free and fair elections.”

He then turned his attention to the Sunshine State, where Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has called a special session for next week on several topics, including redistricting.

“If Florida Republicans proceed with this illegal scheme, they will only create more prime pick-up opportunities for Democrats, just as they did with Trump’s dummymander in Texas,” Jeffries said, vowing “maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time.”

The minority leader added that Democrats would “aggressively target” eight Florida House seats currently held by Republicans, listing each one by name: Reps. Mario Díaz-Balart, Maria Elvira Salazar, Carlos Giménez, Kat Cammack, Anna Paulina Luna, Laurel Lee, Cory Mills and Brian Mast.

The state is widely seen as the GOP’s last opportunity to gain additional seats ahead of November, where new maps could counter changes in Virginia.

Republicans, which are trying to cling to a razor-thin majority in the House, have already passed new maps in Texas, North Carolina and Missouri. Democrats have picked up seats after redrawing lines in California and from a court-ordered map in Utah.

The tit-for-tat began last year when President Trump pushed Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to overhaul the state’s congressional map to gain five additional seats in the House.

The president slammed Virginia’s redistricting push in a last-minute pitch to voters on Monday as a “blatant partisan grab.”

“This referendum is a blatant partisan power grab that nobody’s really ever seen anything like it,” Trump said during a telerally with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).

“It’s the liberal extremist Gov. Abigail Spanberger, too bad, and the far-left Democrats in Richmond after Spanberger promised Virginia voters that she would never do this,” he added at the time.

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