Rep. Ben Cline (VA-06) today announced the launch of a statewide grassroots effort to defeat the illegal voter referendum on April 21, in which Democrats are attempting to unconstitutionally eliminate Republican representation in Congress for 91 percent of Virginia. Cline has created “Stop the Gerrymander,” a 501(c)(4) organization opposing the gerrymander, and seeded it with his campaign funds. Simultaneously, Cline announced the hiring of skilled operative John Pudner to run grassroots and voter outreach efforts in all corners of the Commonwealth.
Unless otherwise directed by the courts, early voting on the referendum begins this Friday, March 6, 2026.
“This is an issue that affects my own district, of course, but it’s also unfair to all Virginians, which is why this must be a statewide effort. And I am confident that our fair-minded citizens will reject this unconstitutional redrawing of district lines to benefit one political party over the other,” Cline said. “We are thrilled to add a professional like John Pudner to this team, because his ability to educate and organize voters is established and well known. With his help, we will defeat this referendum.”
Pudner, who has much experience in Virginia politics and helped put Wisconsin in President Trump’s column in 2024, will amass a volunteer army to knock on doors, make phone calls, and educate voters between now and April 21.
Voters will be asked to approve a plan from Virginia Democrats to take Virginia’s current Congressional map, which produced six Democrats and five Republican members, and turn it into a one that favors Democrats by 10-to-1. Heavily populated Fairfax County, dominated by Democrats, would be carved into five pieces and attached to districts that reach far into rural areas, virtually guaranteeing that rural Virginians will never be represented by one of their own. Finally, the referendum will ask voters in a deceptively worded question whether they want to “restore fairness” to elections in Virginia, which is the opposite of what this plan would do.
Virginia voters foresaw such a dishonest effort to corrupt redistricting and passed a constitutional amendment in 2020 that established a non-partisan commission to redraw lines every decade. It passed with 66 percent support, but Democrats are trying to trick voters into undoing that result.
“Just as they lied about keeping the cost of living low but now are rushing to raise taxes and electricity rates in Richmond, Virginia Democrats are lying about what this plan will do,” Cline said. “Abigail Spanberger specially promised not to gerrymander Virginia, but now she’s behind this plan to disenfranchise nearly half of the law-abiding people in her state.”
“This illegal, partisan power grab must be stopped, and we the people are the ones who will have to stop it,” Cline said. “Our mission must be to give everyone the information they need to do just that.”
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