Virginia GOP Surprises Democrats with Redrawn Districts

Republicans in the Virginia Senate today “pushed through a surprise rewrite of the 2011 redistricting plan that erases a Democratic seat in western Virginia,” the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports.

The revised plan cleared the Senate on a party-line vote of 20-19 as Sen. Henry Marsh (D), a 79-year old civil rights veteran, was attending President Obama’s inauguration ceremony.

Democrats “were shocked by the move, vowing to oppose the new plan in court.”