Virginia's Redistricting Boosts Democrats, Sparks D.C. Expansion Bill

0:00It's April 23rd. This is Canada News today, AI-powered stories from your city. I'm Corey with the story. Virginia's voters is Green Litter redistricting plan that could hand Democrats a 10-to-1 advantage in U.S. house seats from the state. Republicans hit back quick with a new bill to expand Washington, D.C. by reclaiming land Virginia got back in the 19th century. Georgia Rep, Rich McCormick, dropped the Make D.C. Square again act, aiming to undo the retrocession of areas like Alexandria and Arlington. That move back in 1846 came from local gripes over the economy and slavery worries, shrinking D.C. from its original 10-mile square. D.C. advocates are calling FOW, saying it's treating the district like a political football and blocking residents from full democracy. On the flip side, some conservatives push for an executive order to scrap that old land swap as unconstitutional. This flares up now because Virginia's map boosts blue power ahead of midterms, but

1:00adding those 400,000 folks to D.C. could flip the script on districts and voter clout. Efforts like statehood bills or court challenges keep bubbling, but in a gridlock congress, it's mostly noise in the fight for house control showing. How far parties go to redraw the lines?