Candidates for Congress are scrambling to adjust to a new political reality in the wake of a Supreme Court decision last week.
Henrico prosecutor Shannon Taylor will be taking on Rob Wittman instead of John McGuire. Former Congressman Tom Perriello will be challenging John McGuire instead of Ben Cline. And Congressman Eugene Vindman will be running for reelection in his own district rather than taking on Wittman.
J. Miles Coleman at the UVA Center for Politics says Delegate Dan Helmer and all the other candidates who were going to run in a redrawn, so-called "lobster district" this year might end up running two years from now.
"I'm sure state Democrats are probably going to try another remap attempt within the next few years, so maybe there will be a new District 7 in 2028," Coleman says. "So, in a sense, maybe that campaign might never end that started this year, right? So, that's probably the messiest one."
As for this year, Democrats feel good about the likelihood of unseating Jen Kiggans and maybe even Rob Wittman. Louis Jacobson at the Almanac of American Politics says Democrats might even be able to bring a serious challenge to John McGuire if the popularity of President Donald Trump and Republicans continues to decline.
"If they can juice that a little bit more, or if they can get better than their national five or six point edge in Virginia specifically, that is what they would need to flip additional districts beyond those first two, the 1st and the 2nd that are definitely in play," Jacobson says.
Candidates don't have much time to figure out districts where they want to run. The deadline to submit all the signatures and paperwork is two weeks away.
