From the Washington Post:
MOST VIRGINIANS are under the quaint impression that their state has a competitive two-party system. If only. The sad fact is that for the vast majority of legislative races in the state, real competition is a thing of the past. For that, Virginians can thank state lawmakers of both parties, who for decades have drawn lines on the voting maps for no higher purpose than to preserve their own grip on power.So it is significant that both candidates in the race for governor are now in favor of scrapping the state’s blatantly partisan decennial redistricting system. (Actually, “system” is too elegant a word for a process by which the majority party retreats to a back room and simply does as it pleases.) State Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, the Democratic candidate, is in fact a longstanding champion of redistricting reform designed to minimize partisan considerations. And while former attorney general Robert F. McDonnell, the Republican candidate, for years opposed and obstructed reform efforts, he recently switched sides and now endorses the creation of a bipartisan commission with a nonpartisan leader to redraw the state’s electoral districts every 10 years with extensive public input.