The Virginia House gave preliminary approval Thursday to a congressional redistricting map that largely shores up the state’s 11 incumbents, over objections from some Democrats that it dilutes the minority vote.
The Republican-led body also approved the map last year during a special session, but it was stymied by the Democrat-controlled Senate, which pushed a plan that added a second minority influence district.
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With Republicans now in effective control of the Senate, however, it will likely get a friendlier reception in the General Assembly’s Upper Chamber during the 2012 session.
Many thought that according to the state constitution, the General Assembly was supposed to have finished its work on redistricting last year. But the standoff between the two parties pushed it into 2012.
“I wanted it done in 2011,” Gov. Bob McDonnell said Thursday. “I kept urging everybody to get it done in 2011, but [for] whatever reason the legislature made one shot at it and didn’t finish it.”
Mr. McDonnell, a Republican, said he has typically tried to reserve judgment on the bills before he gets them and that he would wait and see what the legislature sends him. He vetoed the Assembly’s first crack at drawing new House of Delegates and state Senate lines last year.
