Ten years ago, on the morning of March 21, 2016, I stood up in the U.S. Supreme Court, took a pause, and said, "Mr. Chief Justice, and may it please the Court." It was my first time arguing before the high court and it was the first of three cases I argued and won involving Virginia's redistricting efforts.

Following the 2010 census, the state's Republican legislature gerrymandered both the state legislative and congressional lines. In a cynical effort to hide their tracks, the GOP weaponized race to deny Black voters a fair say in their government. The result was a map with eight Republican and three Democratic seats.

At every stage of that litigation, Republican members of Congress fought tooth and nail to preserve their gerrymandered map. On May 23, 2016, I won unanimously — the Supreme Court dismissed the Republican congressmen's case. By the time the decade ended under a new fair map, Democrats had claimed seven of the state's congressional seats and Republicans had claimed four.

In the years that followed, my legal team and I squared off against Republicans seeking to draw unfair maps that would ensure a GOP majority. Over the years, we scored victories around the country and won more cases in the Supreme Court.

In 2025, Donald Trump thought he saw a new

opportunity to rig the 2026 midterms. He convinced Texas Republicans to redraw their congressional maps to flip five seats from blue to red. He assumed that Democrats might decry this partisan power grab but would not be able to stop it.

More critically, Trump believed that Democrats would be too beholden to past norms and hemmed in by left-leaning good-government groups to match his brazen tactics. He was wrong.

What Trump did not understand is that a new breed of Democrats — led by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — is now in power. People like him and Eric Holder, the leader of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, understand the failure of the Biden era's adherence to bipartisanship and antiquated norms. They refuse to play by a different set of rules from Republicans. As Jeffries said after last night’s win, the new strategy is, “Maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time.”

Trump also misunderstood the mood of the electorate. Democratic voters were no longer primarily divided by ideological divisions. Instead, they were united by a desire to fight back against Trump's authoritarian power grabs.

After Texas redrew its maps, California redrew its districts to flip five seats from red to blue. Led by Gov. Gavin Newsom and supported by the Democratic congressional delegation, the California plan required a vote of the state's citizens. In November, it passed overwhelmingly with more than 64% of the vote.

Yet, Republicans were not done. After Texas, they set their sights on gerrymandering Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio. Even as Democrats gained a seat in Utah, they sought additional opportunities to offset Republicans' ill-gotten gains.

We had to beat Republicans at their own game — and Virginia was the perfect place to take up arms. After the 2020 census, Virginia’s new congressional map made little sense and failed to reflect either the partisan composition of the state or its communities of interest. I voiced these opinions not only as an expert in litigating redistricting cases, but also as a citizen of the commonwealth.

So, when Democrats decided to employ a process in Virginia like the one used successfully in California, I was all in. As in California, this required both legislative action and a special election. Last night, the citizens of Virginia voted for a new map that will net Democrats an additional 4 congressional seats.

This does not mean the fight is over — either in Virginia or nationally. Republicans have filed a series of lawsuits to try to block the Virginia process and resulting map. I am proud that my law firm is in the trenches fighting to defeat these last-ditch legal efforts.

Meanwhile, Gov. Ron DeSantis has promised to call Florida Republicans back into session to enact a new gerrymandered map in that state. We have already made clear that if he does, my law firm will sue and do everything we can to prevent his illegal scheme from succeeding.

And, of course, hanging over all these cases is the Supreme Court's pending decision in a Louisiana redistricting case, which could obliterate the Voting Rights Act’s last remaining protections for minority voters targeted by the GOP. The road ahead is still filled with challenges. Republicans still have cards to play. Most importantly, Donald Trump is desperate and willing to do anything to keep power.

For my part, I can promise that I will do everything I can to ensure free and fair elections and that Democrats have the legal tools they need to win. That hard work continues.

But at least for a little while, we can celebrate the victory in Virginia and offer thanks to everyone — from the voters to the lawyers to the activists and the politicians — who made it possible.