GOP group targets Black voters with mailer comparing Virginia redistricting to Jim Crow

A Republican-aligned political group is targeting Black voters in Virginia with a deceptive mailer that compares the state’s upcoming redistricting special election to the Ku Klux Klan and Jim Crow-era voting restrictions.

“Our ancestors fought to represent us. Now Richmond politicians are trying to take our districts away,” the mailer reads. “Just like Jim Crow, they want to silence your voice.” 

The document features images of klansmen and civil rights marches, but contains no detailed information about the referendum ballot measure itself. Nonetheless, it urges voters to “vote no and return your ballot immediately to make sure your voice is heard.” 

The Virginia Legislative Black Caucus (VLBC) endorsed the redistricting effort Monday and condemned the imagery in the mailer, saying the “use of historical images from the civil rights movement alongside images of the terrorist Klan organization” was “absolutely appalling.” 

“Further, the language asserts that the ballot measure is targeting Black Virginians which simply isn’t true. The VLBC has endorsed the Vote YES campaign and rejects this messaging aimed to misinform and divide voters,” the caucus said in a statement. 

The NAACP Virginia State Conference also denounced the “manipulative” mailers. 

“While the NAACP is nonpartisan, we are deeply engaged in political advocacy to safeguard our communities,” Rev. Dr. Cozy Bailey, president of the NAACP Virginia State Conference, said in a statement. “This referendum is crucial for ensuring fair representation for all communities and countering the manipulative tactics that threaten our civil rights.”

According to a mandatory disclaimer, the mailer was paid for by the Democracy and Justice PAC. 

A.C. Cordoza, a Black former representative in the Virginia House of Delegates, is listed as chair of the political action committee in a document shared with Democracy Docket.

Asked whether the mailer misinforms and divides voters, as the VLBC said, Cordoza criticized the group for excluding him when he was the only Black Republican serving in the House of Delegates.

“I would say that they don’t have the moral authority to say that anyone is doing that, so they are completely discredited in that regard,” Cordoza told Democracy Docket. 

Cordoza declined to comment on recent gerrymanders in GOP-controlled states that diluted minority voting power.

“We have a[n anti-gerrymandering] constitutional amendment that was voted on by the people of Virginia overwhelmingly,” Cordoza said. “Those other states to my knowledge don’t have that, and gerrymandering is up to them. Their voters choose to allow that. Ours did not.” 

Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones, the state’s first Black attorney general, blasted the group for using history as a “political prop” in a “misleading attempt to confuse voters.” 

“Virginians deserve honest information about the choices before them. Invoking the pain and sacrifice of the civil rights movement while spreading misleading claims about this referendum disrespects the very people who fought to secure the right to vote and have their voices heard,” Jones said in a statement.

Virginia Democrats are asking voters to approve a constitutional amendment allowing them to temporarily redraw the state’s congressional map to help counter President Donald Trump’s push for unprecedented mid-decade gerrymanders in GOP-controlled states. 

Texas, Missouri and North Carolina all redrew maps last year at Trump’s demand, potentially delivering seven more GOP congressional seats — largely at the expense of minority voters, who have seen their voting power diluted by the changes. 

California voters resoundingly approved a countermove in November, authorizing Democrats to redraw the map to cancel out the five more potential GOP seats in Texas with five more potential Democratic ones in California. 

Under the proposed Virginia map, Democrats could pick up four more seats in Congress.

Though Virginia Republicans have characterized the Virginia referendum as unnecessary and claimed the redistricting battle between Texas and California is in the past, the reality is more complicated: Florida Republicans are set to convene a redistricting special session in April, and it’s still unclear how many Democratic seats they could target.

Republicans have filed numerous lawsuits* to block Virginia redistricting. The mailers come shortly after the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that the referendum can go forward, effectively dashing GOP hopes of using the legal system to block the vote.

*Defendant-intervenors are represented in the lawsuit by the Elias Law Group (ELG). ELG Chair Marc Elias is the founder of Democracy Docket.