Last Friday, a three-judge federal panel reaffirmed an October ruling striking down Virginia's congressional map on the grounds that the African-American 3rd District amounts to an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. The news is a potentially significant victory for Democrats, who are at an historic low-point in the House in part because GOP legislatures in the South have packed African-Americans together to safeguard surrounding Republican seats. Today, Democrats hold only three of Virginia's 11 seats in part because the current GOP-drawn map packs African-American voters in Richmond and Hampton Roads into a single, awkwardly shaped district snaking along the James River. Republicans argue they drew this map for purely partisan reasons, but the panel sided with Democrats in finding the legislature improperly used race as its predominant factor in drawing boundaries. Democrats hope that "unpacking" the 3rd CD will make at least one of the current four surrounding GOP seats much more competitive. That could spell difficulty for GOP Reps. Scott Rigell or Randy Forbes in particular in 2016. But more broadly, Democrats also hope the lawsuit could be a blueprint for

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