Democrats fight back against Trump in Virginia… and win

About this episode

The episode discusses the implications of a recent Virginia election that could shift power in Congress away from Trump and the Republicans.

A small election in Virginia looks set to have a major impact on Donald Trump’s power, and the capacity to derail the rest of the president’s second term in office. Overnight, voters in Virginia approved a measure to redraw the state’s political map in favour of the Democrats, who now stand to gain as many as four additional seats in November’s midterms. Given Trump’s thin majority in the House of Representatives, that shift could be enough to flip Congress and put Democrats back in control of the nation’s legislature. The debate around ‘gerrymandering’ began when Donald Trump urged conservatives to push through redistricting in their own states to redraw their own maps in favour of Republicans, sparking retaliation from Democrats in places like California and Utah. The Democrats argue the Virginia election is about restoring fairness while Republicans have accused the party of acting like hypocrites. Will voters be turned off by the tactics, where does it all end, and which party stands to gain in the midterm elections? HOSTS: • Sarah Smith, North America Editor • Anthony Zurcher, North America Correspondent GET IN TOUCH: • Join our online community…

People in this episode

Host: Sarah Smith

Topics covered

• Virginia election
• gerrymandering
• Democrats
• Trump
• midterm elections

Keywords

• political map
• redistricting
• House of Representatives
• fairness
• hypocrisy

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Americast

Places: Virginia, California, Utah, North America, US

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