Virginia congressman says Spanberger wants to ‘turn us into New England’

Less than a week before Virginians head to the polls to decide the fate of the state’s congressional map, a representative from a district at the center of the controversy pushes back. 

In an interview with the Ruthless Podcast released on Thursday morning, Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va., rebuffed the efforts by Virginia Democrats to change the layout of the congressional districts ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. 

“Their goal is the long game,” Cline said of the Democrat-backed redistricting attempt. “It is the short game of the next election, but it’s also the long game of trying to turn rural Virginia into either a non-impact on politics or convert. You either assimilate or you’re destroyed.”

Under the proposed map, Cline’s district in the western part of the state would be divided into five new seats. Josh Holmes, a co-host of the podcast, explained that this would dilute the impact of rural voters.

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“They are attempting to split into five different districts to minimize a rural vote that they can overcome with Northern Virginia suburban NGO defense contractors,” Holmes said during the interview. 

Virginia Democrats are following a national trend. Cline noted how this redistricting playbook has been used by Democrats across the country. 

“They definitely want to turn us into New England,” the congressman first elected in 2018 said. “Massachusetts used to have Republican members of Congress, a much more balanced delegation. Now it’s 9-0. But Republicans vote, what, 40 percent of the population there. They do it in Illinois. Most of the states where they control, they’re trying to just draw Republicans completely out.”

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Cline’s comments come as the polling on the referendum is tightening.  A recent poll from the Washington Post showed support for redrawing the state’s maps, leading by only 5 points. The projections show a closer race than last year’s gubernatorial election, where Democrat Abigail Spanberger defeated Republican Winsome Sears by more than 15 points.

Voters will get their chance to weigh in on the redistricting fight on Tuesday. Virginians will decide whether to approve a constitutional amendment enabling the General Assembly to redraw the state’s congressional map. 

Democrats claim that creating new maps would restore fairness to apportionment. Republicans argue that this is a gerrymander by turning the delegation from a six-five Democrat-majority to a 10-one Democrat-majority in a state where Kamala Harris only beat Donald Trump by six points. 

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Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., who currently represents the Southwest part of the state, would likely become the only Republican remaining in Virginia’s delegation. 

Cline appeared on Ruthless as a part of the Ruthless Midterm Interview Series, an ongoing initiative to interview major GOP candidates. The hosts have already interviewed candidates in 12 states, with more scheduled as primaries across the country take place ahead of the November midterms. 

After Tuesday’s election on the map, Virginians will return to the polls on August 4th for the Republican and Democratic congressional primary elections. The general elections will take place on November 3rd.