RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Virginia judge ruled Tuesday that a proposed constitutional amendment letting Democrats redraw the state's Congressional maps was illegal, setting back the party's efforts to pick up seats in the U.S. House in November.
Tazewell Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley Jr. struck down the legislature’s actions on three grounds, including finding that lawmakers failed to follow their own rules for adding the redistricting amendment to a special session.
His order also said Democrats failed to approve the amendment before the public began voting in last year’s general election and failed to publish the amendment three months before the election, as required by law.
As a result, he said, the amendment was invalid and void.
Virginia House Speaker Don Scott, who was listed in Republicans' lawsuit over the resolution, said Democrats would appeal the ruling.
“Nothing that happened today will dissuade us from continuing to move forward and put this matter directly to the voters,” Scott said in a joint statement with other state Democratic leaders.
Virginians for Fair Elections, a campaign that supports the redistricting resolution, accused conservatives of filing their lawsuit in a known GOP-friendly jurisdiction, saying, “Republicans court-shopped for a ruling because litigation and misinformation are the only tools they have left.”
President Donald Trump launched an unusual mid-decade redistricting battle last summer when he urged Republican officials in Texas to redraw districts to help the GOP win more seats, hoping to hold on to a narrow House majority in the face of political headwinds that typically favor the party out of power in midterms.
So far that battle has resulted in nine more seats that Republicans believe they can win in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio, and six that Democrats think they can win in California and Utah. Democrats hope to fully or partially make up that three-seat margin in Virginia.
As in Virginia, redistricting is still being litigated in several states, and there is no guarantee that the parties will win the seats they have redrawn.
Other states still could join the fray: Democratic Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is pushing for revised districts that could help Democrats win all eight of the state’s U.S. House seats, up from the seven they currently hold, and Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis plans to call a special session on redistricting in April.
Hurley’s ruling comes after lawmakers said they would unveil their proposed new House districts to voters by the end of this week.
The state is currently represented in the House by six Democrats and five Republicans from districts whose boundaries were imposed by a court after a bipartisan redistricting commission failed to agree on a map after the 2020 census.
Because the commission was established by a voter-approved constitutional amendment, lawmakers have to revise the constitution in order to be able to redraw maps this year. That requires the pass a resolution in two separate legislative sessions, with a state election sandwiched in between.
Virginians would have to vote in favor in a referendum.
Associated Press writer David A. Lieb in Jefferson City, Missouri, contributed.
FILE - The state and U.S. flags fly over the Virginia State Capitol as the 2024 session of the Virginia General Assembly gets underway, Jan. 10, 2024, in Richmond, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
FILE - Republican gubernatorial candidate and Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears resides over the Virginia Senate during a special legislative session in Richmond, Va., Oct. 29, 2025. (Mike Kropf/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP, File)
Three Texas siblings who perished in an icy pond were among several dozen deaths in U.S. states gripped by frigid cold Tuesday as crews scrambled to repair hundreds of thousands of power outages in the shivering South and forecasters warned the winter weather is expected to get worse.
Brutal cold lingered in the wake of a massive storm that dumped deep snow across more than 1,300 miles (2,100 kilometers) from Arkansas to New England and left parts of the South coated in treacherous ice.
Freezing temperatures hovered Tuesday as far south as Tennessee, Arkansas and North Carolina, and were forecast to plunge again overnight. Parts of northern Florida were expected to sink to 25 F (minus 3.9 C) late Tuesday into early Wednesday.
The arctic misery over the eastern half of the U.S. was expected to worsen Friday and Saturday. The National Weather Service said another winter storm could hit parts of the East Coast this weekend, and more record lows were forecast as far south as Florida.
“This could be the coldest temperature seen in several years for some places and the longest duration of cold in several decades,” the agency’s Weather Prediction Center warned Tuesday.
Officials in states afflicted with severe cold reported more than 40 deaths.
Three brothers ages 6, 8 and 9 died Monday after falling through ice on a private pond near Bonham, Texas, Fannin County Sheriff Cody Shook said Tuesday. The boys' mother said she ran into the freezing lake and frantically tried to pull her sons from the water, but the ice kept breaking beneath them.
“They were just screaming, telling me to help them,” Cheyenne Hangaman told The Associated Press. “And I watched all of them struggle, struggle to stay above the water. I watched all of them fight.”
More than 470,000 homes and businesses remained without power Tuesday evening, with over half the outages in Tennessee and Mississippi. Reconnecting some hard-hit areas could take days. Electric utility Entergy said some of its 6,000 customers in Grenada, Mississippi, might not have power until Sunday.
Jean Kirkland used a lighter and paper Tuesday to ignite her gas stovetop. Her neighborhood in Lexington, Mississippi, lost power Sunday, and Kirkland and her daughter have been relying on the stove and a couple of gas-powered heaters to keep warm. Outside, icicles dangling from power lines clattered.
“When you’re used to certain things, you miss them when they’re gone,” said Kirkland, who’s been getting by without hot water and lights at night, as well as her TV.
Health officials warn against using gas-powered stoves to heat a home. They can give off fumes that increase the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At least one carbon monoxide death was reported in Louisiana, according to the state health department.
Dozens of Mississippi counties were in need of bottled water, blankets, tarps, fuel and generators, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency was sending trucks loaded with supplies, Gov. Tate Reeves said Tuesday.
More than 110,000 outages remained in Nashville, Tennessee, and neighboring communities Tuesday. Nashville Electric Service said on social media it had dispatched more than 740 workers to restore power. It didn’t say how long that might take.
Nashville officials said nearly 440 people spent Monday night at community centers being used as temporary shelters, while 1,400 more stayed at area homeless shelters. Many residents booked rooms at local hotels.
Lisa Patterson had planned to ride out the deep freeze at her family's Nashville home. But she and her husband lost power, trees fell onto their driveway and their wood stove proved no match for the cold. Along with their dog, the couple had to be rescued and taken to a warming shelter.
“I’ve been snowed in up there for almost three weeks without being able to get up and down my driveway because of the snow. I’m prepared for that. But this was unprecedented," Patterson said.
In Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear warned that the temperatures could become so frigid that as little as 10 minutes outside “could result in frostbite or hypothermia.”
In New York City, officials said 10 people had been found dead outdoors in the cold. More deaths were reported across a dozen states. They included two people hit by snowplows in Massachusetts and Ohio, and two teenagers killed while sledding in Arkansas and Texas.
Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia; Bates from Lexington, Mississippi; and Hall from Nashville, Tennessee. Associated Press writers around the country contributed.
A pond where neighbors say three young boys died after falling into the water is seen Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in Bonham, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
New York Waterway ferries move as ice floats on the Hudson River seen from the Edge sky deck at Hudson Yards, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Emma Teske shovels out her car following a winter storm that dumped more than a foot and a half of snow across the region, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in Haverhill, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
A tree limb dangles from a power line near Lexington, Miss., Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Sophie Bates)
A tree downed by ice rests in a front yard just feet from a house in Nashville, Tenn., Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Travis Loller)
People take the Staten Island Ferry as ice floats on the Hudson River, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
A woman walks across the campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss. on Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, following a weekend ice storm. (AP Photo/Bruce Newman)
Carrie Hampton tries to navigate a snowy intersection without spilling her coffee in New York, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
A person walks their dog in the snow after a storm in Portsmouth, N.H., Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)
In this image provided by the City of Oxford, Miss., snow and ice cover trees and streets as a winter storm passes through, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Oxford, Miss. (Josh McCoy/City of Oxford, Miss. via AP)
A man digs a car out of the snow on Beacon Hill following a winter storm that dumped more than a foot of snow across the region, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
A lineman works to restore power in Oxford, Miss. on Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, following a weekend ice storm. (AP Photo/Bruce Newman)
