Statement of the Virginia Forward Party’s State Committee

The Forward Party believes that fidelity to the people’s will, not partisan gamesmanship, offers the surest path out of our current political malaise.

The Supreme Court of Virginia struck down the state’s rushed gerrymandering effort as inconsistent with the State Constitution’s amendment process.

The ensuing Republican celebration revealed a now too-familiar hypocrisy: democratic norms are defended when convenient and discarded when they are not.

Republicans began this cycle of map-rigging in Texas, and - emboldened by the Supreme Court’s recent Voting Rights Act ruling - are pursuing similar efforts in Louisiana, Tennessee, and elsewhere.

Voters should choose their representatives, not the reverse. Full stop.

Gerrymandering subverts the central mechanism of democracy – free and fair elections. A democracy cannot be protected by selectively upholding its core principles. Leaders who defend gerrymandering elevate loyalty to party interests above the will of the people.

In Virginia, the Democratic Party sought to overturn the nonpartisan redistricting system approved by 66 percent of voters in 2020 and supported in 132 of the Commonwealth’s 133 counties and cities.

The Virginia Forward Party opposed this attempt to nullify the people’s decision.

Had Democrats taken the same principled stand, Virginia would have avoided an unconstitutional special election, saved millions in taxpayer dollars, and respected the mandate voters delivered in 2020.

Instead, they pursued a partisan advantage, betrayed the public trust, and failed.

To protect our democracy, the Forward Party is dedicated to re-establishing elections as a competition of ideas and candidates that challenge the orthodoxies of the legacy parties – both of which are more dedicated to winning elections than solving problems.