U.S. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries campaigned for the “Vote Yes” redistricting campaign in Henrico on Sunday afternoon, while U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and former Gov. Glenn Youngkin hit the trail by rallying rural voters on Saturday.
Jeffries struck a tone of resistance to President Donald Trump while encouraging attendees to support the movement to redraw Virginia’s congressional boundaries.
“We know we’re dealing with the most corrupt administration — the Trump cartel — in American history, and they have nothing positive to offer the American people,” Jeffries said. “So they decided that they were going to try to cheat by engaging in an unprecedented gerrymandering scheme.”
Virginia Democrats have been insistent that their efforts are a direct response to Trump’s directive to conservative states to redraw congressional boundaries to net more Republican representation in the House of Representatives.
Jeffries also mentioned how Trump, who visited Charlottesville on Friday, and Johnson have both been in Virginia in recent days.
“So I said I better get myself to Virginia,” he said to loud cheers from the crowd of over 100 Democrats preparing for a canvassing launch.
Jeffries was joined by several members of the General Assembly, along with Lt. Gov. Ghazala Hashmi and Rep. Jennifer McClellan, D-VA04.
With Northern Virginia serving as the anchor for six of the proposed districts that stretch across the commonwealth, Hashmi pushed back against claims that parts of Virginia will lose representation in the redrawn maps.
“And so when people tell you that they don’t want to lose the representation that they have, let’s make sure that they know that we are giving them better representation,” Hashmi said. “We are not reducing ourselves to sycophants. We are not reducing ourselves to complacency.”
McClellan and Jeffries also pushed back on claims that rural Virginians will lose representation
“I represent a part of rural Virginia right now,” McClellan said. “They will tell you that I have been down there more than their Republican members who were there before.”
“Rural Americans are being crushed by Donald Trump’s tariffs,” Jeffries said. “Rural Americans are being crushed by Medicaid being ripped away from them. Rural Americans have been crushed by the fact that Republicans have enacted the largest cut to nutritional assistance in American history, and things have to be different. Republicans have taken rural America for granted.”
Democrats in the General Assembly completed the legislative process to authorize the referendum in February, meaning they had to move quickly to the election to allow enough time to implement new maps ahead of November’s midterms.
McClellan noted that this expedited timeline could be contributing to recent polling suggesting a tight race, just months after Democrats won the gubernatorial election by 15 points.
“It’s just making sure that we are reaching every voter where they are as quickly as possible and telling them you can vote right now,” McClellan said of the effort to convince Virginians to support the change.
“Virginia is a swing state. It’s a purple state, and we always knew that this referendum vote would be incredibly close,” Jeffries continued. “Republicans are trying to lie their way into victory, claiming that Governor Spanberger supports a no vote. She does not. She voted yes.”
Gov. Abigail Spanberger has advocated for Virginians to vote yes in the referendum.
In addition to stumping on the trail for the yes vote, Jeffries is also spending tens of millions on this effort.
As of Sunday, the political action committee associated with Jeffries has given nearly $33 million to the “Vote Yes” campaign.
The “Vote No” campaign has raised $17 million in total, but they are bringing out the big names on the trail in the final days.
Youngkin headlined an event this weekend in Harrisonburg, and he took direct aim at his predecessor in his speech.
“What Abigail Spanberger has done is lie to everybody in the Commonwealth of Virginia,” he said.
Youngkin noted Spanberger’s comments in 2025, when she said she had no interest in redistricting, and then he made a hand gesture referencing Pinocchio’s nose growing.
“We stand here right now having a vote on the 21st of April in order to prevent literally the most blatant seizure of individual rights that any of us have seen in the Commonwealth of Virginia,” Youngkin continued. “That’s what this is all about, and this is why it’s not a Republican versus Democrat moment. It’s a Virginia moment.”
Johnson, who currently holds the job that Jeffries is seeking at the helm of the House, told Republicans in Harrisonburg that “the eyes of America are upon you.”
“You have the power in your hands,” he continued. “This is a very serious deal. You have the power to say no to this totally scandalous, unlawful, unconstitutional, Democrat gerrymandering scheme that they’re trying to push upon this state.”
“Virginians put in place the foundations for the most extraordinary experiment of self-governance in human history,” Johnson said in closing out his speech. “It’s the greatest nation in the history of the world, and right now, in 10 days, Virginia, once again, has the responsibility and the privilege to defend that great nation.”
Election Day is April 21. Early voting is already underway.