Every resident of the Commonwealth of Virginia can take pride in the role we’re playing to save American democracy from the present slide toward authoritarian tyranny.

 The latest manifestation of this was the brilliant rebuttal speech given by Virginia’s new and first ever woman governor, Abigail Spanberger. With her remarks, she set the tone and the programmatic content for the Democratic Party nationally leading into the November midterm elections and beyond. She was brilliant.

Then there is the cutting-edge role Virginia will play in countering the egregious effort by the Trump administration and its allies to gerrymander congressional districts across the U.S., starting in Texas, in their efforts to steal the critical midterm November elections later this year.

Thanks to decisive victories for Democrats in Virginia’s elections last November, a majority now exists here to counter those Trump moves with a temporary redistricting effort here that will require passage of a statewide referendum in voting that will conclude April 21. It is absolutely vital for the future of democracy in the U.S. that Virginians come out en masse to vote “Yes” on this single referendum issue coming up.

Doing so will enable Virginians to counter Trump in a decisive way, to conceivably elect as many as 10 Democratic members of the U.S. Congress in November, out of 11 total seats.

So, in addition to protests and other forms of resistance to Trump and his efforts to undermine democracy, Virginians have the opportunity for concrete work to do, following on their remarkable electoral victories of 2025.

In and around Falls Church, the process will include the election of a new U.S. Congressman, as the temporary redistricting that’s being called for shifts the boundaries of the 8th Congressional District to the east of the Little City, such that our long-standing favorite son and especially talented lawmaker, U.S. Rep. Don Beyer, will not be representing us.

That leaves Falls Church in a new 7th District that will have no incumbent Congressman. The U.S. representative who serves the current 7th District, Eugene Vindman, will be the incumbent within the boundaries of a newly drawn district in which he lives, and where he’ll run this November.

A couple of citizens have announced their intentions to run in the new 7th District, one from Arlington and another from further south in the lobster-shaped district. There will undoubtedly be more, perhaps many more who will vie in a Democratic primary, the date for which has been set back from mid-June to August 4. No doubt the Republicans will also have a primary to choose their candidate, as the new district is pro-Democratic in its voting history, but not, of course, a shoe-in.

No one from Falls Church has yet announced an intent to run. We hope there will be. But the real focus for now is on passage of the April 21 special election referendum. Vote yes!