I live in a different Commonwealth now, but having spent 49 of the last 52 years in Virginia, it’s safe to say I’ll be a Virginian in Massachusetts as long as I’m here. So this morning’s post is a quick good-luck to salute to the leaders and voters back home who are trying to neutralize Trump’s cheap mid-decade redistricting trick.

The lady above is state Senate president pro tempore L. Louis Lucas. As you sadly might imagine, she’s not only the first African-American but the first woman to serve in that role for Virginia. Mrs. Lucas has had quite a life that you might enjoy reviewing. She has also earned a reputation for feisty tweets and playing political hardball, including the push to maximize the potential impact of today’s referendum.

I don’t have to explain to you that the question on the ballot is a direct effort to put up a temporary firewall against Trump’s bulling Texas into their own highly unusual mid-decade redistricting in an effort to save the House GOP majority.

However, I can tell you for sure that I’d have to explain it to many right-wing voters in Virginia. Even here in 2026, I’ve been surprised at the number of “Vote No” posts and articles that offer no hint of the context that started this round of redistricting combat. No mention of Trump, none of Texas. Just bad ‘ol Democrats gerrymandering out of the blue.

Sure, some of them know exactly what’s going on, but I’ve truly concluded that a lot of people aren’t reading (or thinking) any further than that.

Is our adults learning? Often, not so much.

And I guarandamntee you that 90% of opponents have not taken the popular advice to “read the bill” — to learn that its actions are temporary and only kick in when other states break tradition and redistrict more often than the required post-census adjustment.

I haven’t seen it put more succinctly than this.

I like this because it points up how Virginia’s Democratic counterattack is leaving it up to the voters, as opposed to POTUS’s effort to simply intimidate legislatures into capitulation.

But it leaves out one important detail in the name of brevity, so I’ll mention it here. The president losing seats in the midterm is as American as apple pie. Since the Great Depression, only three have avoided this sobering experience: FDR, Clinton, and Bush the Younger. The last of which I think we can chalk up to post-9/11 crisis mentality, but whatever.

My point is, Trump isn’t concerned about losing his House majority. He’s concerned about being impeached. Which is a proxy for being concerned about being put on trial and possibly finding himself in prison. It sounds surreal, and it may be remote, but that’s what’s going on.

It’s looking like a decent weather day for most of the state, which helps with half the battle in the two things state Republicans fear the most: context and turnout.

Good luck in shoving back, Virginia. Get your groove on and sing along with Donna and Barbra …