Virginia labor union, Congressman Walkinshaw urge ‘Yes’ vote on redistricting

The “Yes” campaign is making a push this weekend to rally voters as over 30 early voting locations open on Saturday.

US Rep. James Walkinshaw of Virginia’s 11th congressional district joined the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) of Virginia in Vienna on Wednesday to rally in support of Virginia’s April 21 redistricting referendum. 

Walkinshaw said President Donald Trump, whose approval rating is below 40%, knows he’s gotten even more unpopular as gas prices rise and the bloody war with Iran costs billions of dollars a day. 

“Because he knows he’s losing, he’s trying to rig the maps,” Walkinshaw said of Trump. “He directed Republicans in Texas, Florida, and other states across the country to redraw their maps because he said he’s entitled to more seats.”

SEIU Virginia told Dogwood it was giving a $500,000 donation to the “Yes” campaign group Virginians for Fair Elections to “ensure that working people in Virginia have the information they need to vote.” 

The “No” campaign has waged a misinformation campaign against the referendum, sending out mailers with pictures of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Ku Klux Klan and others that twist the words of referendum supporters like former President Barack Obama and Gov. Abigail Spanberger. 

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If the referendum passes, it would allow Virginia Democrats to temporarily redraw the state’s congressional districts to gain as many as four seats to offset Republican gerrymandering in other states ahead of this fall’s midterm elections.

Leaders with SEIU Virginia said congressional maps tilted in favor of Republicans have real consequences for workers’ rights at a time when they are already under attack. The Trump administration fired hundreds of thousands of federal workers, is fighting against their collective bargaining rights, and has stymied the work of the National Labor Relations Board.

“We know that workers are under attack every single day,” said LaNoral Thomas, the president of SEIU Virginia 512. “And one thing SEIU is really good at? Un-rigging rules that were built to hold us back.”

The SEIU event was part of a push by the “Yes” campaign to get voters excited for the opening of more than 30 additional early voting sites on Saturday. Early in-person voting has been underway since March, with surprisingly strong turnout for an April election. This Saturday, localities in Northern Virginia, Richmond, and Hampton Roads will add more sites where people can vote early. 

This weekend, former Obama administration Attorney General Eric Holder and Democratic US House of Representatives Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York are joining Virginia leaders like US Sen. Mark Warner and US Rep. Jennifer McClellan to rally people to vote “Yes.” 

“Donald Trump and corrupt MAGA politicians are trying to rig the midterm elections by gerrymandering red states like Texas, North Carolina and Missouri,” Jeffries said in an April 8 post on X. “Virginia voters have the opportunity to respond decisively.”