# The Virginia House of Delegates is gerrymandered (still) **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 29, 2019, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-virginia-house-of-delegates-is-gerrymandered-still/844173 "2019-11-29T17:03:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-virginia-house-of-delegates-is-gerrymandered-still/844173/21 "2019-12-03T01:56:24Z")
The above was from 2018 FYI. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-virginia-house-of-delegates-is-gerrymandered-still/844173/22 "2019-12-03T07:04:59Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Districts following geographical lines is less relevant today. Less relevant in throbbing populous zones, maybe. Still vital out beyond the exurbs. I share more concerns with other dwellers of Sierra Nevada counties than with the swarms down Sacramento way. The hoards are below; the legislators mostly ignore us hillfolk. I’d favor a foothill district, shaped something like Chile - odd but coherent. We can abandon districts when we’re all conjoined in the hive-mind. Till then, I prefer a local representative. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-virginia-house-of-delegates-is-gerrymandered-still/844173/23 "2019-12-03T12:17:26Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > I truly do not understand what you are saying here. Should people have to vote where they work? Otherwise, your commuting reference makes no sense at all … Driving distance to vote never entered into my “thinking,” such as it was. The whole world is becoming global. I push a button on my smart-phone and am talking to the other side of the world. People born in Georgia, study in Ohio, work in Nevada, are looking for a new job in Oregon. While trying to date a Texan lass. Some people live in Thailand, working in USA via 'Net. _ **Geographical districting simply has less practical importance than it had in yesteryear.** _ (Yes, it still makes _some_ sense, especially in rural areas. But less sense than before, so the obstacles to a better system — proportional representation — should be overcomeable.) ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-virginia-house-of-delegates-is-gerrymandered-still/844173/24 "2019-12-03T13:57:25Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > 😕 I was NOT arguing that egregious gerrymandering examples do not exist. :smack: I am ASKING for the “skewness” stats on districts, if any, thought to be drawn without partisan motives. I was pointing out that this is a problem that can be fixed with the means already available, without having to sell people on a totally unfamiliar system to do so. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-virginia-house-of-delegates-is-gerrymandered-still/844173/25 "2019-12-03T14:05:51Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > the obstacles to a better system — proportional representation — should be overcomeable. Sure, the **technocratic** obstacles are easily overcomeable. Now all you’ve got to do is sell **people** on it. I think a 10-year time frame would be optimistic, even in a highly educated, left-leaning state such as Massachusetts. Suffice it to say that there’s no point in even considering it for the upcoming Virginia redistricting that is the topic of this thread. Maybe there’s another thread that’s better suited for this particular hobbyhorse of yours? If not, I suggest you start one. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-virginia-house-of-delegates-is-gerrymandered-still/844173/26 "2019-12-05T02:57:09Z")
The Democrats will get to redraw everything in 2021. Look for Virginia to go blue and stay that way after that. The population center of gravity in Virginia is now about 50 miles south of DC. It used to be long the North Carolina border. Virginia is incredibly gerrymandered. Pay particular attention to the orange and red districts in the right hand corner. Those districts skip across waterways several times in order to reduce the impact of black voters in the Norfolk/Newport News area. Norfolk (the red district) has traditionally gone Republican by about a reasonable margin every year but only because they packed every black neighborhood in the area into the orange district. There was a wave election in 2018 and and a female veteran Democrat took the seat by 1%. Virginia now has 7 Democratic congressmen and 4 Republican congressmen. Redistrciting will probably cement the results of the wave election and probably make two more Republican districts much more competitive so we could see a 9 out of 11 Democratic congressmen from Virginia in the near future. [![](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia%27s_congressional_districts#/media/File:United_States_Congressional_Districts_in_Virginia,_since_2013.tif) ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia%27s_congressional_districts#/media/File:United_States_Congressional_Districts_in_Virginia,_since_2013.tif) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-virginia-house-of-delegates-is-gerrymandered-still/844173.md?page=1)