RICHMOND — On the first day of the 2026 legislative session, Virginia lawmakers on Wednesday finally adjourned the 2024 Special Session, officially ending a meeting that lasted 612 days.
In the midst of a budget battle after the regular legislative session wrapped, Gov. Glenn Youngkin called lawmakers to Richmond for a special session starting May 13, 2024, to resolve differences between the governor’s and lawmakers’ spending plans. The special session then remained open because the Senate never gaveled out, creating an ongoing opportunity for lawmakers to address the budget — and other matters.
Virginia redraws its congressional districts every 10 years after each census. But last fall, Democratic lawmakers put forward a constitutional amendment to allow the legislature limited power to redraw the state’s congressional districts. It is a strategy to bring Virginia in line with other states that are redrawing voting districts for political leverage.
President Donald Trump praised states like Texas for their mid-cycle redistricting efforts last summer, in an effort to bolster the GOP majority in Congress ahead of midterm elections.
House Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, said the 2024 special session’s achievements included passing a bipartisan budget that prioritized education — including teacher raises and more k-12 public school funding— and other Democratic priorities.
But sending the redistricting amendment to voters was also a key victory, Scott said.
“I’m proud of the fact that we were able to get the redistricting amendment completed,” Scott said at a Wednesday press conference. “We put it in front of voters, and they knew about it. Now, voters are watching Virginia — not only in the commonwealth, not only in the United States, but all over the world — to see if America has lost its damn mind.”
He added, “I think we have an opportunity now to send a message to the rest of the country that we’re not going to stand by while you rig this election. We will do everything in our power to level the playing field we were talking about.”
Senate Republican Caucus Chairman Mark Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg, said failing to end the session was a move to keep the governor from making his nominations to multiple boards and commissions, and not the “purported purpose” of addressing the budget.
He said one reason Senators were able to reject the 22 appointments to three public university governing boards last year was because the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee was able to meet while the Senate was still in session.
“We’ve been in a special session almost continuously during the course of Governor Youngkin’s term, which is really unprecedented,” Obenshain said. “It was used to keep the governor from making appointments (and) that was largely what it was used for. There was nothing that would have prevented the legislature from being called back, had it been necessary to do so, but we have just entered this hyperpartisan phase in which we’re gonna try and prevent governors from exercising their constitutional prerogatives.”
House Minority Leader Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Scott, told reporters on Wednesday that he understands the need for a special session on the state budget, but was disappointed that time was spent developing the constitutional amendment to redraw congressional districts right before the gubernatorial election in November.
The results favored Democrats, who will now control the governor’s mansion in addition to the House and Senate.
“Hopefully, we’ll get beyond where we have to be in a special session all the time,” Kilgore said.
Republican Caucus Whip Del. Michael Webert, R-Fauquier, agreed.
“We went into a special session to solve a very specific problem. It was not meant to be used as a tool to continuously identify issues and keep what they’re doing,” Webert said. “We shouldn’t (have been) in two sessions at the same time (and) because of that confusion, I believe … it delegitimizes specific legislative processes.”
But Del. Cia Price, D-Newport News, was pleased with the legislative work completed.
“I’m very proud of the progress we were able to make, even with the obstruction of a Republican governor who vetoed a historic number of important bills that Virginians really needed,” Price said. ”I’m really looking forward to the bills (that) we’ll be able to pass and actually get a signature on this time.”
The proposed constitutional amendment, which will be considered by both chambers, would allow voters to give the legislature the authority to redraw the lines as early as this year. The General Assembly must approve the measure during two consecutive sessions.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, added more context about the purpose of Virginia Democrats’ redistricting push.
“I’m glad we were able to be in session to protect American democracy, which is what this redistricting amendment is about. We didn’t want to have to redraw congressional districts, but when a bunch of … Trump Republicans want to figure out a way to keep themselves and Trump in power as long as possible, it became necessary for us to figure out a temporary solution to address that before our bipartisan redistricting commission can act again in 2031.”
The 2024 special session also addressed the reversal of cost-cutting measures to the Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program, which provides tuition-free college for some military families.
Legislators also wrestled with measures on skill games in the 2024 special session. New bills to create a commission that would oversee skill games and other forms of legal gambling in the state have been introduced in both chambers in this year’s session, which is set to adjourn March 14.
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