District 4 shouldn't be so large. It goes too far to the west and it splits Blacksburg in half.

I think the lines could be drawn that would be more equitable in distributions across districts. A few years ago, several universities had maps that seemed to be very fair and apolitical.

My biggest concerns about the redistricting maps were highlighted in my comments on the HOD Map District #72, but I find Senate #12 map troublesome as well. In terms of priorities and needs around education, public services, infrastructure, and health care, the exurban areas of Chesterfield County with which the Midlothian/Robious Road corridor is grouped are less similar to our area than other areas in Northeast Chesterfield County, Henrico County, and the City of Richmond. Please reconsider these boundaries to group more similar communities.

These boundaries around West Springfield don’t seem to take into account natural divisions created by highway 95, major rivers, or elementary school boundaries. We have more in common with communities in Burke than we do with communities east of Highway 95. Please adjust accordingly. Thank you!

I support the need for redistricting. But, it is a serious mistake to move the area between Route One and the Potomac River (to the East of Ft Belvoir) to a new district (District 33). This area is adjacent to George Washington's Mt. Vernon Estate. Many neighborhoods actually are part of the original estate. The two main roads through the area are the "Mt Vernon Memorial Highway" and "Old Mount Vernon Road." Washington's original Grist Mill (part of Mt Vernon Estate) is in this area. The current proposal ignores the common interests and issues this area shares with District 34! The public school for our children is Mt. Vernon High School (in District 34). Our shopping, our churches, our community organizations are primarily centered in District 34. Please consider moving this area (to the east of Ft Belvoir) back where it belongs, District 34.

I think that Radford, Christiansburg, and Blacksburg should be considered a community of interest.

I have lived in Radford, VA for over 40 years. I am very concerned about this map, as I feel like for the past 40+ years I have been a part of an area considered The New River Valley. It appears to me that this map has been very much gerrymandered. When looking at Radford, you can't ignore the interconnectedness of these areas together. There are many people who live in Radford and work in Montgomery County, as well as many people who live in Montgomery Country who work in Radford. It would be a tragedy to split these areas. The needs of Radford, Blacksburg, and Christiansburg are often very different than some of the more rural areas. Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and Radford all have common interests with the Universities and many other jobs. It would make the most sense to keep all three of these areas together in SD4

Put Poquoson into #23 district. Communities that a re geographically contiguous and share common concerns and interests (with Hampton on other side of the river) ought to have a Senator in common.

Please, stop the Gerrymandering and follow the principles of "communities of interest" and "compact and contiguous." For us here in SW VA, the ROANOKE VALLEY is clearly ONE "community of interest." People work, live and drive across these Roanoke City/County lines daily. Please DO NOT lump Vinton and Hollins in with Staunton and Waynesboro. I suggest the ROANOKE VALLEY be ONE senate district, and the New River Valley be another. Thank you for your attention and service. Please view my column on this topic: https://theroanokestar.com/2021/12/20/scott-dreyer-end-the-johnnymander/

Effective representation takes place when a community is kept together and represented by a leader whose focus is not being pulled into many directions by citizens of different communities. Newport News should be kept together as much as possible in one district to minimize splits in counties and cities.

Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Radford constitute a community of interest deserving of proper representation. I live in Radford, work in Blacksburg and I shop, socialize and attend religious events in Blacksburg, Christiansburg and Radford.

I am very much against the way this map has been drawn. It appears obvious that either nobody connected with New River Valley was involved or the map is intended to deliberately divide the members of this community amongst SD4 and SD5. Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and Radford have common interests and should have common representation. It would make the most sense for them to be included together in SD4 as we also share interests and ties with Roanoke.

Agreed that this is an odd split as Chesterfield is typically considered in terms of N/S (e.g. North Chesterfield) vs. E/W and groups that are closer in to the city tend to have more concerns in common than the further south exurban areas.

Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and Radford constitute a compact community of interest, united by shared educational, cultural, social, and economic institutions. A resident of Radford for almost 40 years, I taught at Radford University, collaborated with colleagues at Virginia Tech and New River Community College, shopped in Blacksburg and Christiansburg, attended cultural events in Blacksburg, enjoyed dining and entertainment in Blacksburg and Christiansburg, relied on public transportation between Radford and Christiansburg, etc., etc., etc. These three locales are woven together by complex and deep cultural, economic, educational, and social relations. They belong in the same district rather than split apart. In terms of preserving a "compact community of interest," it makes no sense to split one part of Blacksburg from the rest of the city.

Please move Poquoson out of the 24th district and into the 23rd district as it would preserve the community of interest that exists between Hampton and Poquoson. They have a shared geography as the Peninsula’s two Atlantic-facing localities, and both sit on the Back Bay River. Also, in 2019 the court adopted a special master-recommended House of Delegates District that consolidated parts of Hampton and Poquoson into one district. Redrawing Districts 23 and 24 as suggested would minimize splits in counties and cities.

It is clear that SD 32 is overpopulated and underrepresented; this is unfair and unconstitutional. Keeping in mind that population growth will continue to increase exponentially, it is imperative that SD 32 (the largest in terms of population), is designed to maximize representation of its population while also acutely aware and reflective of its growth.

Move Monument, Centerpoint and Penderbrook precincts into SD36 and HD10 to preserve their connection with nearby Eagle View precinct, because all four precincts share strong commercial and cultural ties, as well as shared transportation needs, with Centreville down Routes 66 and 29. The malls of Fair Oaks and Fairfax Corner are significant to western Fairfax County, and under this plan would be separated from them. Route 608 West Ox Rd is also a unifying transportation thoroughfare for these communities, connecting them to south county via Route 286 Fairfax County Pkwy, giving them more in common with SD36 and HD10. This change improves the compactness of SD36, improves minority representation in diverse HD10, and for both House and Senate districts forms a neat and well-defined border with Fairfax City to the east.

Poquoson and Hampton should be in the same district as they are similar in geography and share a community. The Newport News-Williamsburg Airport needs to be in the same district as Newport News and Williamsburg.

I do not agree with the splitting of like mined communites. It seems to me the lines are drawn with a polictical bias. I think the districts should be left as they are

I lived in this community for many years as a young adult. The census-designated place of Kings Park West (Robinson and Laurel precincts), and neighboring Sideburn and Bonnie Brae precincts have more in common with the GMU-Fairfax City area than Centreville or Clifton. They should not be divided, and instead be represented by 1 delegate and 1 senator in the same district as GMU and Fairfax City - HD11 and SD37.

I oppose the plan to lump rural Giles county together with prosperous, rapidly growing Blacksburg. Having lived for more than a decade in Blacksburg and now for more than 20 years in Eggleston, I can assure you that the two do not form a rational community of interest. Giles County needs sustainable economic development, public transportation options for the isolated rural poor, and more resources to address a severe and worsening epidemic of addiction that both arises from and fuels the lack of hope and opportunity here. (For example, there is a desperate need for affordable housing for those recovering from addiction). Giles County has great natural beauty and agricultural interests, both of which need to be preserved and developed sustainably to support local communities - for instance, with its access to the Appalachian Trail and the New River, it has great potential for expanded ecotourism that would preserve our natural resources and provide long-term economic opportunities in the community. Giles County needs a representative who will recognize and work for its unique interests and for its residents. Blacksburg has a more affluent and on average more educated population whose voices whose demands would, I fear, likely drown out Giles County's urgent but differing needs. Instead, I believe Blacksburg and Roanoke form a far more rational community of interest and are much more reasonably paired in the same district. There are very strong economic and transportation links between the two, and VT has already expanded its campus to Roanoke by placing the Carilion School of Medicine there; they did not choose to bring that campus and its attendant jobs to Giles County. I have spent the past five years running a children's book donation project, Open Book for the New River Valley, which works with numerous community partners such as Head Start, New River Valley Community Services, and the Giles Co. Health Department, and attend the Giles Co. focus group, which brings together representatives from these and many other organizations, as well as law enforcement, which has taught me much about the needs of our local communities. Please don't eviscerate our county's ability to work for its own interests by placing us in the same district with thriving, prosperous Blacksburg. Sincerely, Laura P. Livesay

To Whom It May Concern: I am a citizen of Roanoke County, Town of Vinton. I do not support separating the town of Vinton from the rest of the Roanoke Valley and lumping it in with communities from which it is geographically and socially isolated, seemingly for political purposes. In general, Congressional districts should be geographical. They should combine communities that are geographically close and socially knit together. This also intrinsically avoids re-drawing district boundaries to favor certain political entities or parties and also avoids segregating districts by race, as has been attempted in the past. Therefore, I strongly support keeping Vinton together with the other communities in the Roanoke Valley and NOT grouping it with communities as far removed as Staunton, which otherwise would have no connection with Vinton.

To Whom It May Concern: I am a citizen of Roanoke County, Town of Vinton. I do not support separating the town of Vinton from the rest of the Roanoke Valley and lumping it in with communities from which it is geographically and socially isolated, seemingly for political purposes. In general, Congressional districts should be geographical. They should combine communities that are geographically close and socially knit together. This also intrinsically avoids re-drawing district boundaries to favor certain political entities or parties and also avoids segregating districts by race, as has been attempted in the past. Therefore, I strongly support keeping Vinton together with the other communities in the Roanoke Valley and NOT grouping it with communities as far removed as Staunton, which otherwise would have no connection with Vinton.

Please keep Burke Centre united by including Fairview precinct in HD 15 and SD 35. I am a resident of this community, which includes three precincts (Terra Centre, Fairview, and Burke Centre) all in the same census-designated area, ZIP code area, and homeowners association. Please preserve the quality of our representation with 1 delegate and 1 senator only, by not dividing us. This map places Fairview precinct in a different House and Senate district, and this should be corrected.

This is an odd split of Chesterfield County. Most folks view the county as split north/south rather than east/west. In terms of supervisor districts, you should unite Midlothian with Clover Hill in SD12 and unite Matoaca with Bermuda in SD15. Dale District and portions of South Richmond can fill out the balances for those districts.

I object to portions of Belmont being bifurcated from the balance of Loudoun County. This literally divides the community between 2 districts and has the potential for residents to be voting against each other's interests. Our interests are much more suburban/urban (ie. Metro and Dist. 32) than those in the agricultural, rural areas of the balance of District 31 as now proposed

While my most serious concerns about the redistricting maps were outlined in my comments on the HOD Map District #72, I find Senate #12 map troubling as well. It creates a district that, while contiguous, is non-competitive. The proposed district appears to be overwhelmingly red. Without the inclusion of more blue and purple districts that have normally been associated with this precinct, it becomes heavily dominated by red districts. This will overwhelm the now minority blue voters, thereby inadvertently disenfranchising them. I strongly urge you to reconsider changing these boundaries to include more equalized competition.

I object to portions of Belmont being bifurcated from the balance of Loudoun County. This literally divides the community between 2 districts and has the potential for residents to be voting against each other's interests. Our interests are much more suburban/urban (ie. Metro and Dist. 32) than those in the agricultural, rural areas of the balance of District 31 as now proposed

SD25 seems to be an amalgamation of areas that were left over during the redistricting process. There really is no united community of interest here. Maybe take a look at uniting some of these areas with other districts.

To Whom It May Concern: I am a citizen of Roanoke County. I do not support separating the town of Vinton from the rest of the Roanoke Valley and lumping it in with communities from which it is geographically and socially isolated, seemingly for political purposes. In general, Congressional districts should be geographical. They should combine communities that are geographically close and socially knit together. This also intrinsically avoids re-drawing district boundaries to favor certain political entities or parties and also avoids segregating districts by race, as has been attempted in the past. Therefore, I strongly support keeping Vinton together with the other communities in the Roanoke Valley and NOT grouping it with communities as far removed as Staunton, which otherwise would have no connection with Vinton. Sincerely, Alan Denekas Roanoke County, VA

Radford and Blacksburg should not be separated. They represent a compact community of interest. In reality, the New River Valley should be combined. The residents of Blacksburg, Radford, and Christiansburg are connected in literally hundreds of ways, both university related and also for non-university interests that involve our common concerns for our connections to this mountainous area surrounding the New River. It is illogical to segment the NRV; this area should be celebrated and encouraged to maintain its community concerns in every way.

For over 50 years I have lived in Mantua and in the 34th Senate District of Virginia. I represented the 34th Senate District when I was elected to the Senate. Moving Mantua and Fairfax City into different districts destroys a community of interest. I am against taking Mantua out of the 34th District. I am also against renumbering it to the 37th. Senator Emilie Miller

Splitting Cardinal precinct from Irving and Keene Mill precincts splits multiple residential streets. These precincts should be kept together as Fairfax County recently recognized.

To think that Sterling/Algonkian District in Loudoun County has much in common with Warrenton is wishful thinking. Also, communities around Route 7 should not be divided.

I'm not happy with Vinton being in a completely different district from Roanoke County. Vinton is part of the Roanoke County School district which also includes the Mt. Pleasant area. Our address is Roanoke, VA, but our children go to William Byrd which is located in Vinton, Virginia. This area needs to remain with Roanoke County as does some of Hollins. You need to keep school districts together. Go back to the drawing board on this.

This comment is for the proposed Senate District 5. Please do not separate Blacksburg from Roanoke City. Blacksburg has significantly more in common with Roanoke City than with Tazewell County. We have the connections between Virginia Tech main campus and the new medical campus in Roanoke. Both are economic engines in their communities. Ideally, you would not split up Montgomery County but if there has to be a split Blacksburg should remain with Roanoake City as there are more shared communities of interest between Blacksburg & Roanoke City than between Blacksburg and the rural counties south of us. The airport was renamed several years ago (the the Roanoke Blacksburg Regional Airport) to reflect the important connections between Blacksburg and Roanoke. Additionally, we have a public transportation system between the two areas. Thank you for your consideration.

This comment pertains to proposed Senate Districts 23 and 24. Poquoson should be put in the 23rd District with Hampton because: 1. That will preserve the community of interest between Hampton and Poquoson. They have a shared geography as the Peninsula’s two Atlantic-facing localities. 2. In 2019, the court adopted a special master-recommended House of Delegates District that consolidated parts of Hampton and Poquoson into one district. 3. Redrawing Districts 23 and 24 as suggested would put more of Newport News into the same district, minimizing splits in counties and cities.

Keep all of Roanoke County with the City of Salem

Poquoson should be put in the 23rd District (Hampton) because it would preserve the community of interest that exists between Hampton and Poquoson. They have a shared geography as the Peninsula’s two Atlantic-facing localities. It would also put more of Newport News into the same district, minimizing splits in counties and cities and it woudl keep the Newport News-Williamsburg Airport in the same district as Newport News and Williamsburg.

It would be preferable to move Poquoson into the 23rd District in order to preserve that community of interest. This is already recognized in the State House maps with District 86 including Poquoson together with much of Hampton.

I was very disappointed and shocked at the proposed new 7th District. It completely obliterates the cohesive identity it has developed. We currently uniquely sit in the center of Virginia, and I feel its counties as currently drawn is very representative of the entire state because of this. If the new map is approved that composition will gone. The one true district, that can currently lean Democratic, or Republican will become firmly Republican (first district). This will mean the current 7th district residents will no longer represent the views of central Virginia. This is a political redistricting not a people one and hurts the state.

I’m a long-term Blacksburg resident. Rural Giles County and the rural counties to our west are beautiful places, but in general those counties’ residents’ interests are enormously different from those of Blacksburg residents. Blacksburg, home of Virginia Tech - a large, comprehensive, R1 university - doesn’t belong in SD5 with those rural counties, and Blacksburg voters’ interests will be poorly represented in the Virginia Senate if they remain in this district with those counties. The Town of Blacksburg DOES belong in the same Senate district with Roanoke City, where these two places are now, in Senate District 21. Together Roanoke City and Blacksburg add up to 2/3 of a Senate district. Roanoke is the largest Virginia city west of Richmond. I believe I am correct to say that Blacksburg is the second largest town in Virginia, and is larger than any city or town west of Lynchburg other than Roanoke. Unlike Blacksburg’s relation to the rural areas the proposed SD5 combines it with, Blacksburg and Roanoke City share a range of communities of interest. Blacksburg and Roanoke City are vastly more similar socially and economically, with close economic and educational ties. Virginia Tech’s medical school, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, is in Roanoke City. Close Blacksburg-Roanoke City transportation ties evidence Blacksburg and Roanoke City’s commonalities, including major highway projects designed to speed travel between them over the past two decades, and the Smartway Bus that runs 14 trips each weekday between them. Given college town Radford’s similarities to Blacksburg, it too would fit well in a Senate district with Roanoke City and Blacksburg, if that's feasible. Christiansburg also makes sense in this district - though if it came down to choosing Blacksburg or Christiansburg to be in the same district with Roanoke City, the choice is easily Blacksburg, not Christiansburg. To sum up: Blacksburg and Roanoke City belong in a Senate district together, and Blacksburg should NOT be combined in a district with the proposed SD5’s rural counties.

This redistricts parts of the Battlefield District to be with the senate district that includes less dense and more rural King Georges and Caroline county and further south. The population in our zipcodes have more suburban and urban interests, not rural interest. The majority of this district 25 will be rural and our representative would be much less likely to be able to balance addressing the concerns of our population. Our interests are more aligned with District 27 the Greater Fredericksburg area. Please CHANGE this.

The Greater Fredericksburg Senate Districts should be modified to better reflect the region's communities of interest. To offset the increase in population, Senate District 27 should give up the sections of Spotsylvania County around Chancellor and the Chancellorsville Battlefield. They have less in common with the rest of Senate District 27 than the area directly south of Fredericksburg.

The Greater Fredericksburg Senate Districts should be modified to better reflect the region's communities of interest. The area in Spotsylvania County south of Fredericksburg along I-95 between I-95 and US-17 should be together with Fredericksburg and Stafford County in Senate District 27.

I urge you to reconsider the configuration of Senate Districts 23 and 24 so they better reflect the established criteria for drawing district lines. The 2 Atlantic-facing localities of Poquoson and Hampton are wedded together by history and demographic shift in population. NASA-Langley employees initiated the upward movement to Poquoson with their families in search of a more rural setting and strong public schools. There is great overlap among the residents who live, work and learn in these two localities. Poquoson and Hampton comprise a community of interest and therefore, should both be included in the 23rd Senate District. There should be a greater effort to maintain the integrity of the Newport News precincts by including more of them in the 24th Senate district. Residents in Newport News, regardless of precinct, receive similar services from the local public health department, public transportation and public schools. It is important to maintain this community of interest together in the newly drawn 24th Senate District.

The 31st and 32nd are already overpopulated, and the Loudoun parts of those State Senate seats are still areas of massive growth - tens of thousands of voters are going to get added to these already crowded Districts over the next few years. It's going to really weaken Loudouners' ability to have our voices heard if we wind up not just 2% over the target size but 10%+ over target in a few years. I also don't think it makes sense to have so many Fauquier precincts in the 31st. Folks in Leesburg and Sterling don't have much in common with people in Rectortown or Delaplane. If the 28th were over-populated and the 31st/32nd under-populated that would be one thing, but the opposite is the case - the 28th is thousand of voters under the target, and two Loudoun-based ones are bursting at the seams already. Moving a few precincts into the 28th (and then moving the lines between the 31st and 32nd as needed) would solve four problems at once - evening out the population imbalances a bit in those three Senate districts, and also putting some folks in Fauquier into a Senate district that better matches their community.

This redistricts parts of the Battlefield District to be within the senate district that includes less dense and more rural King Georges and Caroline county and further south. The population in our zip codes have more suburban and urban interests, not rural interest. The majority of this district 25 will be rural and our representative would be much less likely to be able to balance addressing the concerns of our population. Our interests are more aligned with District 27 the Greater Fredericksburg area. Please CHANGE this.

This redistricts parts of the Battlefield District to be with the senate district that includes less dense and more rural King Georges and Caroline County and further south. The population in our zipcodes have more suburban and urban interests, not rural interest. The majority of this district 25 will be rural and our representative would be much less likely to be able to balance addressing the concerns of our population. Our interests are more aligned with District 27 the Greater Fredericksburg area. Please CHANGE this.

Please redraw these districts and include the entirety of the BATTLEFIELD District of Spotsylvania County with DISTRICT 27 and Fredericksburg. Our interests as growing suburb of Fredericksburg would be served. Being placed in a district that will focus on serving the needs of rural Virginians would be a gross mistake and disservice to Battlefield District citizens.

I vehemently disagree with the Battlefield District of Spotsylvania County being included with the more rural district 25. Our issues would not be served at all. The Battlefield District is a suburb of FREDERICKSBURG District 27, and share similar interests, issues, growth patterns. Please change this map.

Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and Radford all have common interests. The New River Valley is a single community.

Seems gratuitous to chop the Potomac Falls area into the 31st Senate seat. Why isn't the 32nd running to the Potomac river... with that change, it also makes sense to expand the 30th north (into the 32nd) to rt 705/Conklin.

Vinton should be grouped in with Roanoke. It's a suburb of Roanoke. It makes no sense to group it with a district that reaches so far north.

It makes little sense that Blacksburg and Roanoke are in separate Senate districts. Roanoke County and Montgomery county have far more in common economically, culturally and socially with themselves than Montgomery has with Tazewell or Marion. For example, Virginia Tech spans Blacksburg and Roanoke, and many Virginia Tech employees live in Roanoke.

This redistricts parts of the Battlefield District to be with the senate district that includes less dense and more rural King Georges and Caroline county and further south. The population in our zipcodes have more suburban and urban interests, not rural interest. The majority of this district 25 will be rural and our representative would be much less likely to be able to balance addressing the concerns of our population. Our interests are more aligned with District 27 the Greater Fredericksburg area. Please change this.

The city of Poquoson belongs in the 23rd. Redrawing Districts 23 and 24 as suggested would put more of Newport News into the same district, minimizing splits in counties and cities.

Poquoson and Hampton already share a delegate; it would make sense that these two Back Bay River-facing communities would share a state senator as well. Please put Poquoson in District 23.

I am very concerned that the people living within SD32 are being underrepresented. This district is over populated today, and the population is only going to get larger over the next 10 years. Please consider reducing the size of this district in order to give us fair representation.

I am deeply concerned about the proposed dividing line between District 12 and District 15. It appears to me that this line was drawn in such a way that minority voters in the Chesterfield suburbs are packed into District 15. My current district, District 10, already does not accurately reflect the diversity of our community, and the newly proposed 12th District makes this racial disparity even worse. As one example, the local high school for my neighborhood, Clover Hill HS, is 54% White, 22% Black and 10% Hispanic while the proposed 12th District is 71% White, 15% Black and 6% Hispanic. Our district needs to represent the diversity of our population, and the proposed District 12 does not do that.

No high population area should be able to speak for low population areas, taking away their voices/votes. It should be like the national Electoral College, which gives a voice to the "fly over" parts of our nation. All districts should be Compact with a balance of voters with out regard for Race , Religion or Color.

I strongly urge the Supreme Court to put Blacksburg and the City of Roanoke in the same Senate district. Currently, Blacksburg is in a district with Tazewell, Richlands, and Marion. We share little with them. On the other hand, there is a lot of interaction between Blacksburg and Roanoke. The two are a community of Interest. There is a good reason why the Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport is named the way it is. Furthermore, Virginia Tech has a large presence in the City of Roanoke through the Virginia Tech Carillon School of Medicine. There is bus service between the main campus in Blacksburg and the School of Medicine in Roanoke which runs several times a day. In general, there are many strong linkages between Blacksburg and Roanoke.

If Senators Lucas and Spruill are in the same district that would be highly problematic and represents an egregious error on behalf of the mapmakers, that should be remedied immediately.

I do not support any change to the current District 2. I grew up in Augusta county and this seems to me just another way of manipulating how a district is represented only to meet some political agenda instead of the best interest of the district.

All districts should be Compact with a balance of voters with out regard for Race , Religion or Color.

The City of Falls Church uses Fairfax Water and has our schools on Fairfax land. There is no need to change the district to align with Arlington. This dilutes our concerns, which are not matched with Arlington's.

The Greater Fredericksburg Senate Districts should be modified to better reflect the region's communities of interest. The area in Spotsylvania County south of Fredericksburg along I-95 between I-95 and US-17 should be together with Fredericksburg and Stafford County in Senate District 27. To offset the increase in population, Senate District 27 should give up the sections of Spotsylvania County around Chancellor and the Chancellorsville Battlefield. They have less in common with the rest of Senate District 27 than the area directly south of Fredericksburg.

I very much oppose the redistricting on the map as it's very broad and shouldn't include such place as Staunton as that location is very much different than Botetourt County.

Looking at the numbers presented on this redistricting page they tell an interesting story. SD-32 has the largest Adjusted Population in the state. SD-32 also has the largest deviation from the target in the state. Couple these numbers with the expected growth in the next several years, expected to be in the tens of thousands, this district will easily become one of the most out-of-balance redistricting fiascos in the state. This cannot be allowed to stand. Accommodations must be made to equalize the populations of these districts. Recognizing not only neighborhoods but also cultures and communities of interest this equalization may be accomplished by moving an entire precinct into another district. One suggestion might be to move Stone Bridge, already on the SD-31 border into that district. Please consider carefully lest you fall into this mistake.

I feel that it creates a great hardship to separate Russell County from Tazewell County. Our two counties are partnered together by several shared economic development projects through our regional industrial development authority. Our two counties are furthermore tied together by the Southwest Virginia Community College which sits on the Russell-Tazewell County border and by water sales agreements between our respective Public Service Authorities. Breaking the Senatorial representation of our two counties complicates that representation on our existing and future projects. Our two counties are additionally tied together by strong working relationships with our legislators. It is requested that consideration be given to moving Russell County to District 5 so that these long-standing working relationships can be uniformly represented in state matters.

Chesterfield's district is too large, population has risen exponentially. Chesterfield needs to be broken up into smaller districts. The county administration, and our Congressmen/women, and our Senators want to keep it large to continue control by the Democratic party. Because of the flight from Richmond city, Chesterfield's votes are at present for Democrats, and becoming more so. The Chesterfield suburburn voters are tired of being overwhelmed by population growth of typically democrat votes - and the county pushing high-density housing that typically votes Democrat. Suburban flight is resulting.

Please redraw these district lines to include the entirety of the battlefield district of Spotsylvania county with district 27 and Fredericksburg. The interests of the citizens of Fredericksburg, which is a growing suburb, will be met. To be placed in a district that serves more rural Virginians would do a disservice to the developing battlefield citizens.

At its inception, SD32 would be the most overpopulated district, with many more houses scheduled to be built throughout, but especially in the Broad Run area. Please consider making adjustments that will allow room for population growth. One option might be to remove the Stone Bridge area from SD32.

This redistricting would put us in too rural of an area. It would be too hard to make balanced decisions due to the differentiation of population density between us and districts such as King George. Our interests are more aligned with District 27 the Greater Fredericksburg area. Please CHANGE this.

Is there not a way to have a district that includes all of Montgomery County plus the City of Radford? The way this district is split currently divides the communities of Montgomery County. If Montgomery County must be split, Blacksburg would be a much better fit with the proposed 4th district instead of the proposed 5th.

The urban areas of Radford, Blacksburg, and Christiansburg should be in the same district, having more similar populations than with the surrounding rural areas.

Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and Roanoke should be in one district. There are many ways these regions are connected, such as the Smartway Bus to the train station and the airport, Virginia Tech Medical School and Fralin Biomedical Institute, and the Roanoke Blacksburg Technology Council. If this isn't possible, than at least Blacksburg and Roanoke should be in the same district.

This part of Stafford County's residents live south of Garrisonville road (north is Quantico) and would prefer being part of the district that covers most of Stafford. It makes no sense to include us in the district to the north.

Please see attachment. Thanks, Sara

Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and Radford are a social and economic community that share transportation, health care, education, and employment networks. The city and towns have little in common with the rural counties to the west. This portion of the New River Valley shares more interests with Roanoke, with commuters traveling I81 in both directions and Virginia Tech employing researchers and educating students in Blacksburg and Roanoke. For the Senate districts, it makes more sense to include Blacksburg with Christiansburg and parts of Roanoke County rather than the counties west to Tazewell.

Blacksburg is an integral part of an increasingly interlinked sub-region, the New River and Roanoke Valleys. This has recently been recognized by the renaming of the Roanoke Regional Airport as the Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport. Amtrak service has been extended to Roanoke and is expected to serve the New River Valley by 2025. Anchor institutions from both Valleys share programs and students. Thousands of employees commute to and from the urban centers of the Valleys. The Valleys are represented by forward-looking organizations such as the ValleysInnovationCouncil that foster entrepreneurial, hi-tech commercialization of technology originated in the R&D in the region's universities. It is important for the future growth of the region that it have a single representative in the Va. Senate, who is informed on issues of joint importance and can effectively represent our interests.

Proposed district 37 already has over 4000 residents more than the target. Part of the district, Tysons, is said to be growing at 4X the rate of the rest of Fairfax Co. So as time goes on those of us in this district will have increasingly diluted representation.

Poquoson and Hampton are the same community, and should be treated as such.

Please correct the wrong-headed effort to replace current Senate District 34 with a dysfunctional new “compact polygon” Draft Senate Dist. 37 anchored only by Oakton, Vienna, Tysons Corner, and Fairfax City. “Equal protection” of rights to “life, liberty, and property” (i.e., right to viable livelihoods, places to play, pray, and work) does not mean separation of racial/ other socio-economic populations. Add back the old Mantua and Kings West neighborhoods, INOVA medical campus, GMU and surrounding student and employee residential neighborhoods. The Draft plan mistakes Hwy 50 east of Fairfax City for a community boundary. I live on Hwy 50 in Stonehurst and it is a magnet transportation artery uniting student, faculty, medical, local and federal government, retiree and service industry neighboring resident populations around the vital GMU (law, business, etc.), INOVA medical campus, DC legal firms, State Department, World Bank, senior centers, and similar institutions (Hwy 50 becomes Constitution Avenue; two Metro stations and a main access to the Express Beltway are just north of Hwy 50). Vienna, Fairfax City, GMU offer live arts, festivals, Independence Day fireworks, houses of worship, schools, local employment, several senior centers and retirement homes, and outdoor parks that unite a diverse but thriving, authentic Community of Interest (COI).

Why is the 757 getting divided up like this? Keep Norfolk with the Eastern Shore! Also the 19th makes no sense what so ever. Great Bridge with the Ocean Front? Really? Split VB in half between East and West (Ocean Front and Lynnhaven), this North South divide looks like it was drawn by someone who has never been to Hampton Roads.

I do not understand why the mapmakers are trying to reinvent the wheel. Just split Virginia Beach between East and West (Lynnhaven and the Ocean Front) and pair Norfolk with the Eastern Shore. Why is this complicated? Keep communities that have been represented jointly, together.

The Westhampton precinct should be kept together and not split between the 37th & 38th Districts.

As a business owner in the 8th district; I find it confusing why such a niche community is being broken up. I feel that it will take years to recover. Breaking the momentum currently established to better the area (with all of the organizations collaborating for a better future) is a horrible idea. I urge you to reconsider!

Please do not split Fairfax County's 317-Westhampton precinct between proposed Senate District 37 and 38.

As Ben says, splitting Westhampton precinct between the 37th & 38th Districts makes no sense. This map reflects no understanding of the greater Falls Church community.

While I greatly appreciate that the redistricting process is more open to public scrutiny, the maps themselves fall far short of ideal in terms of creating competitive districts in a purple state like Virginia. Lack of competition in elections leads to entrenchment of parties and increased polarization of thought, two things fundamentally detrimental to democracy. Competition of ideas among candidates for offices pushes candidates towards the ideological middle, where most Virginians are, and contributes to stronger representation for all of the constituents in a district, not just those constituents that align most closely with extreme viewpoints and agendas. The Special Masters’ proposed maps do get good reviews for “fairness” when fairness is considered as balancing the creation of safe districts for one political party or another. As noted above, what we need for our democracy is competitive districts that create opportunities for candidates who will have to find a way to be responsive to a wide variety of the needs and expectations of the people they represent. Unfortunately, the proposed maps do not get as high marks for competitiveness. For example, from the Princeton Gerrymandering Project, the State Senate, Congressional, and the House of Delegates maps receive F, C, and B ratings respectively for competitiveness, and that is taking into account only election data from 2016-2020. UVA’s Center for Politics expands the date range of election data more broadly and has even more dismal analysis in terms of lack of competitiveness within districts. As a moderate in Virginia, my primary interest in supporting an open redistricting process was to increase representation of a wider variety of viewpoints, not to see the two parties entrenched in districts, with little to no opportunities for challenges of ideas and ideals. Without question, gerrymandering needed to be addressed in Virginia, but to establish districts for the next ten years that have decreased rather than increased opportunity for candidates from either party to be successful (let alone any prospect of a third party candidate having an opportunity to introduce ideas), is not a win for democracy.

The designs of Senate Districts 35 and 37 are absurd. The numerous salients indicate mindless engineering that violate basic common sense in redistricting. Districts should be compact and reflect local neighborhoods, so that the senators can represent the needs of those neighborhoods. Where I live in the new 35 (Pine Ridge/Mantua), one can draw a line between two big chunks of 37 and go right through us. So much for compactness and contiguity! Arlington should be held together, which would make it possible to keep Falls Church and West Falls Church together.

Hello, as a former Asian and Asian American community organizer (formerly working with ACE Collaborative and New Virginia Majority) who has worked in Arlington County for two years, I would like to say that I do not approve of the boundaries of Senate District 40 as it is currently drawn because it divides Arlington County, specifically, the neighborhood of "South Arlington." South Arlington as a community NEEDs to be preserved and kept with Arlington County as a whole. The constituents of South Arlington are primarily low-income, working-class Black, Brown, and Asian people and they would be better represented with Arlington County. The section that is Falls Church should not be a part of Arlington County. Instead it should be removed and South Arlington should be added back to Arlington County.

Similar to the HoD Maps, I don't understand why our neighborhood is being sequestered off from areas in PWC which we have more in common with and spend more of our time in, both for work and with friends. This map does a poor job of keeping us with our community.

Breaking up District 8 and particularly the Lorton portion of South Fairfax County into potentially three different delegate districts is very problematic and diminishes the continuity of the community which has only gained its prominence and voice over the last ten years.

Agree - splitting Brambleton while putting Potomac Falls in the new 31st district doesn't add up, would make more sense to keep Brambleton together

Agree with others that this is a minority-majority district pickup opportunity lost. There's an overemphasis on keeping within county lines at the expense of representation for communities of color

It makes no sense to split Westhampton (317) precinct with part in the 37th District and part in the 38th. The part that is directly adjacent to Falls church City is in the 38th with Reston, Herndon and Great Falls, when the 37th contains most of the rest of the area around Falls Church City as well as the other part of Westhampton precinct. Please keep Westhampton together!

As the House of Delegates map. It takes Isle of Wight out of communities of interest

Falls Church High School and its surrounding neighborhoods have high concentrations of communities of color, like low-to-middle income Vietnamese Americans and Latine Americans, who do not have much in common with the higher-income, whiter residents of cities like Vienna and Tysons. I'd remove this area in District 37 enclosed by Holmes Run, Lee Hwy to S Washington St, Hillwood Ave, and the proposed border with District 35 and add that area to District 35 to keep communities of color, especially Vietnamese Americans, with common interests together.

Eden Center and the apartment complexes directly north of it are grouped with DC-adjacent Arlington, but Vietnamese Americans are known to live in many of the neighborhoods in proposed District 35. Please keep our iconic Vietnamese American community hub together with where we live in high concentrations! I'd remove this area enclosed by E Broad St, N Roosevelt St, Wilson Blvd, and the line designating Arlington from District 40 and add it to District 35.

I live in southeastern Augusta County. As a former elected member of the Augusta County Board of Supervisors, I am very, very concerned about this critical error in the map. Please correct it as soon as possible. I would be glad to talk with you and explain this more fully. Don't lump disparate communities with different needs and issues together; the end result will be bad for the citizens. I am appalled that you would isolate our community from the rest of Augusta County and the Shenandoah Valley by placing us in the District 3 (the purple area) rather than in District 2 (the green area). The line needs to be drawn at the Rockbridge-Augusta border. Please do not grab one quarter of the county and remove it from its community. If the line continues like this it will mean that some of the Augusta County Board of Supervisors members will be in one General Assembly District and others will be in a different one. In fact, some Board of Supervisors members will have half their district constituents in one and half in another. If the purple section (section 3) is not removed from Augusta County then the end result will be erratic communications between the local and state government, resulting in poor governance. In the end, it will be the local citizens who will be hurt, leaving them in limbo and nowhere to turn when they have issues and concerns.

District 32 is currently a weak Asian opportunity district, with only a 30.3% Asian population. Given the strong growth of the Asian-American community in NoVA, I think the mapdrawers should make this either an Asian plurality or stronger Asian opportunity district, as no other strong Asian opportunity state Senate district exists in this map. That could be done by taking in parts of southwestern Fairfax (the Chantilly / Centreville area) that has a high Asian population, and moving Brambleton to the 31st district. Several commenters have noted that Brambleton is currently divided between two districts. This proposed solution would solve both the minority opportunity and Community of Interest concerns

Staff entry on behalf of Scottsville's mayor and vice mayor. This map splits the Albemarle and Fluvanna portions of the Town of Scottsville. For such a small town as Scottsville, this is unreasonable, and the law would better support maintaining the entire town in one district. Please consider assigning the small Fluvanna portion of Scottsville to the same district as the larger Albemarle portion. Our zoning map, attached, shows the land in question. Thank you.

Augusta County shouldn't be split up like that. I looks like district 3 is reaching up to grab the population areas of Staunton and Waynesboro. Augusta County should remain whole so as to consolidate our interests.

The cities of Poquoson and Hampton should be represented together by one (1) senator just as they are with the one member of the house of delegates.

Keep Mount Vernon in Mount Vernon!

This version of the map cracks Montgomery County in half and works against decades of the on-the-ground evolution of community identity in the region. In addition to the numerous problems indicated by others, this is bound to have consequences at the level of county elections in ways oppositional to the spirit of local representation.

I would divide the 35th and 36th Senate districts down Roberts Road with everything to the east in 35 and everything to the west in 36. This would eliminate the separation of the KPW neighborhood along Commonwealth, eliminate the deviation in 35 and the surplus in 36. At the very least reunite KPW, but do not separate Martin's Pointe along a Zion Road N/S boundary.

I disagree with the division of the New River Valley on this map, and especially the way that Blacksburg and Christiansburg are split into two separate districts. I live in Blacksburg but have so many ties with other folks in Christiansburg - our kids play on the same sports teams and leagues, we work together, we serve in the same organizations. We are certainly a single "community of interest", much more so than the rural communities that these existing maps group us with us with.

Why is Montgomery county being split again? Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and Radford all have common interests. The New River Valley is a single community, if possible, could we be in a district with Floyd, Giles, & Pulaski counties. If that can't be done at least keep Montgomery county (or at least Blacksburg and Christiansburg) together. These areas are a distinct cultural and economic area from the areas further southwest, or even further northease. We should have a representative from the New River Valley. Many people in this area work and commute between these counties. Their jobs are often tied to the Universities in the area, and so they have common interests in having a single respresentative for the whole NRV.

I do not like the suggested maps and ask that Bon Air be kept in the mix with the City of Richmond for representation. When we moved to the county 12 years ago so as not to take my stepkids out of their school system when they came to live with us, we specifically picked this part of Chesterfield because it was close in and part of the transportation grid around Richmond. My concerns as a citizen are much more attached to the urban community as that is what we live in. Attaching us to a rural community will result in little to no representation of our needs.

Do not like Brambleton be split into 2 districts, the smaller piece could be easily adjusted into District 32.

I do not understand lopping off the the southern part of this district - 34 and placing it in 33 - the Mount Vernon neighborhoods, north of Dogue Creek. This should be fixed and realigned with district 34. Makes no sense and should be addressed.

North Stafford has little in common with PWC and its interests are divergent. The residents of North Stafford would be better served by being included in District 27 or District 28.

I am disappointed to see Montgomery County split again in this Senate district. I live in Riner but work in Blacksburg, grocery shop in Radford and Christiansburg. The New River Valley Planning District is a pretty good representation of how we interact in this region--the New River Valley really is a coherent community. Ideally our Senate district would include all of Montgomery County, Radford City, Giles Co., Floyd County, and Pulaski County. If this is not feasible, please at least keep all of Montgomery County intact and include the city of Radford. I appreciate that it's a challenge to draw these lines, but this district is clearly splitting communities of interest unnecessarily. The interactions through the K-12 schools and universities, our work environments, and the areas where we recreate and shop all are joint, and these maps feel very arbitrary.

Why aren’t Radford and Montgomery County in the same senate district? These closely situated small urban communities associated with universities should be considered a single community of interest. Why are they split into two districts each with rural areas that are very different culturally, socially and economically?

Montgomery County should not be split like this. The New River Valley is a well-connected community of interest, with a well-integrated economy sharing schools, recreation, businesses, and higher education. Montgomery County, Blacksburg, Christiansburg and Radford should be in the same district.

This proposed change splits Mount Vernon into two. Our kids all go to the same schools and play on the same teams, they should be represented in the state government together.

I strongly oppose the proposed redistricting of the small subset of the Mount Vernon community. This change splits our community in two and disregards the affected neighborhood's inherent interests in our local community. We live on the original Mount Vernon farm, our children go to the Mount Vernon pyramid schools and we support Mount Vernon area businesses. This proposed change makes no sense and must be remedied by redrawing the lines to ensure that district 34 includes the entirety of the Mount Vernon community.

District 34 should include all of Mount Vernon

We have lived in our house--within walking distance of Mt Vernon Estate--for over 30 years. Our lives--schools, church, where we shop, play, dine--are centered here in Mount Vernon. The issues that concern our neighbors north of the estate are the same issues that concern us. We ARE Mount Vernon, so why are you separating us? Why are you shoving Westgate precinct--named after the historic entrance to Mount Vernon estate--to a district that is centered so far south of us? We strongly oppose this map and our inclusion in District 33. Let Mount Vernon BE Mount Vernon!

Moving George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate and the Mount Vernon Civic Association from Senate District #34 and putting it in Senate District #33 with Woodbridge and Manassas violates five redistricting requirements: we are split from our contiguous community, does not respect our natural boundaries, denies our participation with our larger community of interest in District #34, removes us from an existing compact district and fails the equity test - many minority students from #34 are taught in our community where we have historically provided Food for Thought packets for those students in greatest need and we raise funds for our community food banks among our Association Members to support the families in need along the Rt 1 corridor. I-95 is a natural barrier. Combining Mt Vernon with West Springfield across this barrier is artificial and eliminates the north-south community focus that the current boundaries, the community at large, the school systems, as well as the cultural and political history of this area. This Southeast section of Fairfax Country already has trouble meeting the needs of it population. Diluting the voice of this group by drawing east/west lines will continue to disenfranchise this area and put future improvements in transportation, health, and education at risk.

Montgomery County and Radford City belong together in a single Senate district. Splitting Montgomery County is a clear attempt at gerrymandering and inappropriate meddling with the votes and representation of our area. Montgomery County would be split in two, diluting the votes of the common community of interest in Montgomery County and Radford. Many people who work or study at Virginia Tech or Radford U. live in Montgomery County outside the towns of Blacksburg and Christiansburg. Montgomery Co. and Radford fit in a Senate district with room for about 100K people more.

Cutting the map like this and dividing Brambleton doesn't make much sense. Switching Potomac Falls and Brambleton would be the best course of action.

I dislike splitting Brambleton in this specific location. It should remain in one contiguous district.

I think the mapmakers fell short here. The Brambleton community is tightknit and it doesn't make sense to break the community into two!

Completely irresponsible to put Ashland in a district that stretches all the way down to bordering Lynchburg. The district is nowhere close to a community of interest and should be redrawn, putting the town into the 16th, as we border Henrico and many people that live here work in that district, it would make much more sense than us being in the 10th.

Congratulations on drawing a much improved map! Unfortunately this particular line splits the Kings Park West neighborhood along Commonwealth, its main corridor. Under this map, half the neighborhood will be diluted into a district to our south and west that has mostly larger, more expensive, and more recently built housing. That region has very few commercial, recreational, service, or worship sites that we in KPW use. Our daily lives take us mostly to neighborhoods in Fairfax, Annandale, Burke, and Springfield and we have a strong affinity with our KPW neighbors to our immediate north. Please reunite the neighborhood so that we are fully represented both in the House of Delegates and the Virginia Senate.

Alexandria currently has three state senators representing various parts of the city. It appears from this map that we're losing two. We're a big city and growing everyday. The easternmost part of district 39 has far more in common with Alexandria than it does with Burke. District 39 should be moved east a bit.

I would appreciate it if you would consider having Ashland and northern Henrico/the southernmost part of Hanover County in Senate District 16. Senate District 10 is really, really big and our part of the district isn't really at all connected with far western Hanover, Louisa, and Amelia. We are much closer to the northern part of Henrico- where many of us work, commute, where our kids play sports, where we go to church, etc. I understand the challenge here but this change would be much more similar to communities where we have shared interests than what is currently envisioned.

Battlefield and Lee's Hill voting districts in Spotsylvania should be included with District 27. The residents in this area consider themselves as a part of Fredericksburg as opposed to Caroline or King George Counties. Like the rest of the northern part of Spotsylvania, they have a Fredericksburg address. As a community of interest they are more oriented to the proposed District 27 than the proposed District 25. This portion of Spotsylvania County is much more like the proposed District 27 than the proposed District 25. The southern part of Spotsylvania County would be a comparable match for the proposed 25th.

I also disagree with the change proposed for Senate 34 - i.e., cutting the neighborhood in half and including portions with districts that are further south and not contiguous. I don't see how this benefits the community.

This doesn't make any sense and should be revisited.

Splitting apart Blacksburg and Christiansburg is a clear attempt at "cracking" this district and a partisan gerrymander. These are like communities with common economic interests, and should be combined together for the sake of districting.

Why do we have to have eyes in the back of our heads so we don't miss the sneaking stuff going on in our government. Trying to sway the votes to one party to benefit the wealthy is insane! Wealthy, don't you know its us, the people, that make your business thrive. Every vote should count so stop drawing crocked lines to make the votes go in favor of candidates that DONT have our best interest at heart. DO NOT PASS this BIAS redistricting!

Clearly the map makers are using the population anchors of Christiansburg and Blacksburg to round out the necessarily population size of the proposed Senate Districts 4 and 5. Unfortunately, this map fails miserably. First, it splits Blacksburg down the middle. Two, it groups a large chunk of Blacksburg with rural areas of the state in which I can find no commonality other than Virginia residency. Three, it groups Christiansburg with the Roanoke region. While I would prefer to see Christiansburg and Blacksburg in the same district (these two towns comprise the population anchors of the New River Valley), if either of the two towns are to be grouped with the Roanoke Valley, it ought to be Blacksburg. Blacksburg has a higher degree of commuting between the two valleys and through the many Virginia Tech initiatives has built strong commercial linkages with the Roanoke region. These senate districts as well as the proposed house districts simply carve up the various Montgomery County population centers and toss them into far flung rural districts.

I live in the Yacht Haven subdivision which is slightly south of the Mount Vernon Estate on the Potomac River. As others have commented, our community of interest aligns with those in the 34th Senate District more so than it does with the 33rd Senate District, the proposed District for mine and the immediate surrounding communities. From a community of interest perspective, including issues of concern to myself and neighbors in the southeast portion of Fairfax County, it makes much more sense to extend the southern boundary of the 34 District to encompass Mason Neck. As to the western border of the 34 District, the community of interest extends to I-95 and no further west. That is, those of us living in the southeastern portion of Fairfax County generally work, recreate, and educate our children in the areas concentrated between the G.W. Parkway and Route 1, and north into Old Town Alexandria or Washington D.C. , as opposed to areas west of I-95 such as Springfield and West Springfield. Additionally, while not speaking for residents of Springfield or West Springfield, I would expect that their issues regarding traffic patterns, commuting, and transit are significantly distinct from mine and my neighbors. Similarly, my and my neighbors issues regarding the development of the Route 1 Corridor from the Beltway south to Woodbridge are of paramount concern, whereas I expect those living west of I-95 would be far less impacted. I appreciate your time and consideration of my comments and am happy to discuss further with you. Sincerely, Thomas J. Curcio.

I previously submitted a comment on the house of delegates proposed district 76 that mentioned it having south Richmond included to dilute the County voters strength. That comment was actually meant for this senate district 15 as this district has been drawn to reduce the strength of the county voters and lean this seat towards the democrats. Please consider minor adjustments to maintain better communities of interest and preserve the competitive nature of this senate district.

I disagree with the gerrymander of Montgomery County by splitting it in half. We are a community of interest with two universities and a strong community college as well as advanced technology businesses and the personnel which staffs them. This is partisan gerrymandering at its core and does not fairly provide voters true representation. Please change these district boundaries to more fairly represent the population. FYI, while our address is in Pulaski county, we are Montgomery residents per taxes and voting!

This map separates clear communities of interest in the district I would be in. Blacksburg and Radford are distinct small urban communities that are socially and economically centered around universities, including significant student populations, and Christiansburg is a small urban area adjacent to Blacksburg and Radford that is home to many people associated with one or the other university. Taken together, these places correspond to a single community of interest, but the proposed map splits them in two and combines them with rural areas that are socially, culturally, and economically quite different.

Justice would be keeping the original 28th State Senate Dist. as was previously to eliminate the blatant gerrymandering demonstrated.

The division of the original 28th State Sen District has all the demonstration of Gerrymandering. You have in the alleged name of diversity discriminated against the community at large.

The sections of the Mount Vernon neighborhoods that have been stripped from District 34 need to be reinstated. We live on the property that was once George Washington's farms - all of the Mount Vernon neighborhoods are one community with shared needs and outlooks. We share a high school, a middle school, youth sports leagues, shopping centers etc. To separate the Southern sections of the "Five Farms" from the rest will divide our community's representation in public office. We are one community and should be represented by the same elected official, whether North or South of George Washington's estate.

I have lived in the Habla Valley area for over twenty years I do not support any proposals which splits the Mount Vernon "Historic" community. Note the term "Historic" as this location was a part of the "George Washington Estate" The proposed redistricting splits our community off from Mount Vernon High School and Walt Whitman Middle School where my children attend school and would severely limit our opportunity to be fairly represented on a multitude of local issues including development along the Route 1 corridor and adjacent areas near our home. This proposal aims to move us to a District that we share no common interests with.

While I strongly agree with the spirit of the Special Masters work, in this area a mistake was made. The area of this cutout, as others have pointed out, splits a single subdivision into two parts. Kings Park West should be entirely in District 35 to keep it contiguous with Burke, Springfield, and other areas to the east.

We live in the Westgate area of Mount Vernon and strongly object to being removed from the rest of our Mount Vernon Community in the 34th Senate District and tacked on to the 33d District. This proposal would separate us from our Mount Vernon Community of Interest where we live together, work together, go to school together and conduct business with. We have shared interests in public transportation, GW Parkway issues, northern Route 1 corridor development, infrastructure and other community interests. The proposed redistricting line literally splits our community off from Mount Vernon High School and Walt Whitman Middle School where we send our children to school and would severely dilute our opportunity to be fairly represented on a variety of local issues including noise pollution, air pollution, and development along the Route 1 corridor and adjacent areas near our home. This proposal moves us to a District that we share no common interests with and violates your own guiding principles. It appears that the Special Masters may have been too focused on the math as a priority rather than keeping communities together. Do not sacrifice our Community in order to make your numbers work… We hope you will take our comments into consideration and incorporate them into a final decision that maintains our Mount Vernon community integrity.

I live in northern Chesterfield County, as part of the metro Richmond community. Unfortunately this affinity is completely neglected in the proposal for senate district 12. Adequate representation will be near impossible.

Why is Norfolk not in the same district as the Eastern Shore? Why is this change being made? Norfolk has always been grouped with the Eastern Shore. This should get fixed.

We live in the Westgate community which is historically part of the Mount Vernon area. I am writing to object to the proposal to place us in a new Senate District that would group us with residents of Lake Ridge, Woodbridge, and Crosspointe instead of residents in our local area. The issues that affect the quality of life in our community are much different than the challenges they face in their communities. The proposed redistricting line literally splits our community off from Mount Vernon High School and Walt Whitman Middle School where we send our children to school and would severely dilute our opportunity to be fairly represented on a variety of local issues including noise pollution, air pollution, and development along the Route 1 corridor and adjacent areas near our home. The interests of our community would be much more fairly represented by including us in the 34th District where we belong with the rest of our neighbors. I hope you will take my comments into consideration before you make any final decision on the Senate redistricting proposal. . .

Across the board, this map does a much better job of keeping localities together. The one exception seems to be the new district 17. It's nearly a 1 1/2 hour drive between Smithfield and Dinwiddie (and through a number of counties NOT included within district 17). While I am THRILLED to see Isle of Wight County congruent and complete, it doesn't make sense to have this circular district when all the others are close together at last. Can't we move the counties around a little to make that happen? Thanks for your consideration.

Both the Senate and House state maps manage to separate Blacksburg from Christiansburg and submerge it in rural districts.

Why is Poquoson not paired with Hampton? Poquoson should be paired with the city of Hampton and not with York county.

This is the problem when the Special Masters are not citizens of Virginia. They have no idea of the historic nature of communities or consider at all the historic nature of Mount Vernon itself. This is offensive. I have no problem with fair representation but dividing a community in half that has worked, schooled, and churched together for this long is asinine. Does Virginia really need a court appointed outside group to determine our fate?

I have lived in the Mount Vernon community for 17 years which has included in my opinion north to Belle View and South to Ft. Belvoir. I cannot imagine how dividing my neighbors who use the same libraries, schools, shopping, RT 1 Hwy as I do would serve them. Fredericksburg and Manassas share no overlapping parks, school, shopping or transportation issues with Mount Vernon. I strongly oppose Proposed map for CD 8 or any plan that divides the Mount Vernon School Pyramid or Mount Vernon Supervisors district in half. Mount Vernon is a long standing community just like Springfield or Franconia.

We have lived in this house, directly across the street from the Mount Vernon Estate, for 32 years. Our lives have revolved in the Mount Vernon & Fort Hunt areas in District 34 as we raised 3 sons. Our lives are not focused south of here in District 33. It's arbitrary & capricious to cut the Mount Vernon area, including the Estate, off from its communities for the purposes of representation. With the exception of 1 year, our children attended Fairfax Co. schools north of us in District 34. We are oriented toward the political & societal issues north of us in District 34, along Route 1 & the GW Parkway. This map is a disservice to a significant number of citizens & their everyday interests in their community, including us. We strenuously object to this map placing us in District 33.

Brambleton should not be divided. It makes most sense for all of it to be in 32nd as it is most like its northern, southern and eastern neighbors like Ashburn, Sterling and S. Riding.

Moving George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate and the Mount Vernon Civic Association from Senate District #34 and putting it in Senate District #33 with Woodbridge and Manasas violates five redistricting requirements: we are split from our contiguous community, does not respect our natural boundaries, denies our participation with our larger community of interest in district #34, removes us from an exiting compact district and fails the equity test - many minority students from #34 are taught in our community where we have historically have provided Food for Thought packets for those students in greatest need and we raise funds for our community food banks among our Association Members to support the families in need along the Rt 1 corridor.

It would make the most sense for Radford, Montgomery County, and the City of Roanoke to form a single Senate district; under no circumstances should Montgomery County be chopped in half.

This dividing line seems arbitrary and splits communities. I95 and the river are much more logical divide points.

I agree with others who are critical of the configuration of District 34. The area south of Little Hunting Creek should remain part of that district and not added to District 33. All of the Mount Vernon area share common issues--transportation, education, environment, etc. To separate the district makes no sense. We are one community.

I agree with Ms. Alford that the southern border of the 34th district should be drawn to include Fort Belvoir at least, and it would make the most sense to go down to the point where Prince William County begins.

We live in the Westgate precinct #613 just west of Mt Vernon and north of Ft Belvoir. We belong in Senate district #34 with the rest of the Mt Vernon magisterial district. The map puts us into Senate district #33 from which we are totally separated by Fort Belvoir. In general, the map does not reflect natural community boundaries and needlessly divides magisterial districts and high school attendance areas.

Keep Mount Vernon together! This is our home and this is where our interests lie...we have little in common with Springfield.

How it is even possible that George Washington's very own Mt. Vernon Estate would no longer be in the actual Mt. Vernon neighborhood?

Agree with other comments that it makes no sense to cut Brambleton here - could either make it all part of the 31st or make Aldie/S. Riding/Chantilly part of the 31st and make Brambleton part of the 32nd. Really hope this gets changed.

The Mount Vernon community is split into two. The area west of I-95 (West Springfield) is an appendage that does not belong in District 34. Removing it and adding precincts in District 33 south of Little Hunting Creek to District 34 would keep the Mount Vernon community of interest together and would make for a more compact District 34.

Having lived in the Wessynton community for over twenty years, we totally reject the redistricting of our neighborhood to be shunted south almost an hour away!   We live in the Little Hunting Creek watershed, shop here, attend schools here, seek medical care here, attend church here and find our friends among the people here.  We drive these roads, walk these streets and are concerned with the taxes that maintain them.  We have our mail delivered by the local post office, not Fredericksburg.  Our vote should remain here, not fall on deaf ears 45 minutes away by interstate roads!!  Perhaps we should consider voting in Maryland??? Pamela Patrick 8801 Anne Tucker Lane 22309 Sent from my iPad

I join with others who object to the configuration of this District. It should extend south at least to Dogue Creek, and not so far west. The community around Mt. Vernon shares common issues with those east of Rt. 1 and north to the city of Alexandria (transportation, education pyramid, and environmental, for example), which are quite different in the Springfield/Franconia area. I urge the western boundary of SD 34 be moved east and the southern border moved southward.

Why does the 15th district have a tail that stretches all the way to here?

Why is King William County split in the State Senate map when it isn't split in the State House of Delegates map? It seems strange to me that the larger districts would have to split King William County when the smaller districts didn't.

The mapmakers don't seem to understand this neighborhood well - this nook here makes this district less contiguous, splits a community of interest (Brambleton), and could easily be avoided by putting South Riding/Chantilly in the 31st and making all of Brambleton and Potomac Falls part of the 32nd.

The maps proposed for CD8, SD34, and HOD16 sever our Mount Vernon Community of Interest by following VA-235 to US-1, thereby cutting off neighborhoods south of VA-235 to Dogue Creek. These neighborhoods should not be separated from those to the north. The Potomac River and Dogue Creek waterways define our community boundary around the Mount Vernon estate, not the arbitrary location of the road.

This proposed map splits Kings Park West Community into two different districts along its central thoroughfare, Commonwealth Blvd. This would be a detriment to its citizens and should be corrected. Kings Park West is a vibrant and engaged community of homeowners who share common interests. Our subdivision continues to run an active voluntary civic association (kpwca.org), which has supported the neighborhood since its development over 50 years ago. Attached is a map showing the 1879 homes eligible to join the civic association. Please ensure that our entire neighborhood is properly included TOGETHER in a single district, as our representation should not be split.

Those drawing this map are clearly not familiar with the Mount Vernon Supervisor District or the Mount Vernon community. The neighborhoods along the whole GW Parkway, from Belle View and Belle Haven at the Fairfax Co./City of Alexandria line down to George Washington's Mount Vernon and "inland" to West of Rt. 1 is one area. Mount Vernon and Fort Belvoir should be included in the new 34th district. The 33rd should not begin any further north of Mason Neck and ideally should start at the Fairfax Co./Prince William Co. line. V/R, Carrie Ann Alford Former Mount Vernon Commissioner, Fairfax County History Commission Final Legislative Aide to former Senator Toddy Puller (36th Senatorial District of Virginia)

Those drawing this map are clearly not familiar with the Mount Vernon Supervisor District or the Mount Vernon community. The neighborhoods along the whole GW Parkway, from Belle View and Belle Haven at the Fairfax Co./City of Alexandria line down to George Washington's Mount Vernon and "inland" to West of Rt. 1 is one area. Mount Vernon and Fort Belvoir should be included in the new 34th district. The 33rd should not begin any further north of Mason Neck and ideally should start at the Fairfax Co./Prince William Co. line. V/R, Carrie Ann Alford Former Mount Vernon Commissioner, Fairfax County History Commission Final Legislative Aide to former Senator Toddy Puller (36th Senatorial District of Virginia)

While I don't think Fauquier needs to be split, this particular border makes no sense in how it creates peninsulas into the Town of Warrenton and the New Baltimore area. At the very least, include the rest of Lee Highway and the small section of 29 into the new 28th to create a smoother and more logical border

Keep Arlington County in one district

The proposed map for CD8 cuts off our neighborhood from the rest of the 8th Congressional District and the proposed 34th Senate District. We are all one community down here. We are part of Mt. Vernon. We have the same Supervisor and School Board member. You have split our high school district, middle school district and even our elementary school district right in half. This map does not respect our community. The area along Dogue Creek belongs with everything to the North. We have nothing to do with Clifton, Lorton, or Springfield - ARE ARE MT. VERNON. Please fix this. Gail Richmond

Do I want to be in the 10th District? No I don't. As a resident of Lake Monticello I want to be in the 11th District like the people of Zions Crossroads and seemingly random parts of Louisa county get to. We are just as much, if not more of a Community of interest for Albemarle-Charlottesville than the portion of Louisa that the 11th District steals. Lake Monticello residents, live, work, go to school, get their medical care, get their local news media from, travel by air train all in the 11th District and we have little to no relationship with the remainder of the 10th District. Both maps for the 11th and 10th Districts split communities is strange ways and cross county lines. The "flag-pole" districting between the 10th and 11th in Louisa is suspicious looking and just odd. The way the map of the 11th steals Farmville from Prince Edward County also seems unnecessary. Keep counties whole, and if you can't keep them whole, weigh the splits by what are the most legitimate communities of interest are when making those decisions - like Lake Monticello in the 11th District.

Sure wish there was a way to KEEP ARLINGTON WHOLE. If you have to exclude some chunk why is it one of the historically most diverse parts of the county? Don’t lump us with Falls Church while cutting out Nauck. Please respect our geographic boundaries. Give Falls Church to the 37th, West Falls Church south of 50 to the 35th, continue the 39th from Bailey’s to Lincolnia, and keep Arlington together.

I think most citizens in Augusta county would benefit from the whole county being in one district.

Blacksburg, Radford and Christiansburg are a community of interest in jobs, education, and economics. This division serves none of these areas. Blacksburg has little in common with the western area of this district.

Please don’t split the neighborhood of Kings Park West right down the middle. All the families that live here attend schools together belong to neighborhood groups together and are known to each other. It makes much more sense to use Braddock Rd as the dividing line so cohesive neighborhoods are not split into separate jurisdictions!

It's good to see an East and West Loudoun district, but making Potomac Falls part of the Western District rather than Brambleton or South Riding/Chantilly is puzzling. Why split Brambleton when you can put make it part of the Western District?

It would make more sense to make South Riding part of the 31st instead of this part of Brambleton, or Potomac Falls part of the 32nd, then to split Brambleton in half here. Seems to go against the criteria.

We are opposed to how this map divides our Ashburn community also separates us from a significant portion of eastern Loudoun. Every effort should be made to keep communities like Ashburn together in one district. It's also hard to understand why portions of eastern Loudoun where we shop, go out to eat, and where our kids go to school, would be lumped into a district with Fauquier County that is predominately rural.

Blacksburg and Christiansburg (both in Montgomery County) should be in the same Senate district, because they form one community. It looks like the easiest way to accomplish this would be to move Christiansburg from District 4 to District 5 and to move the parts of Montgomery County and Pulaski County that are south of Interstate 81 from District 5 to District 4. (I don’t know how well the populations match.)

If I am not mistaken this map would lump Senator Lucas in with Senator Spruill. Why would the map makers be trying to eliminate black Senators that have fought for historic communities of color in Hampton Roads for decades?

The splitting of Eastern Loudoun - Sterling, Ashburn and Leesburg between District 31 and District 32 does not serve the interests of the community. Much of District 31 is now rural and less developed and those communities have completely different needs from those in Eastern Loudoun/Leesburg.

The proposed 11th SENATE district makes no sense at all!!! It divides the entire subdivision of Kings Park West with no apparent rationale. This new boundary does not meet the goal of "like interests" since the new line cuts through both Laurel Ridge and Robinson High School out of the new district for a major portion of the Kings Park West population. As recent events have shown representation is critical when issues of education are at the forefront of Virginia voters. This simply makes NO SENSE!!!!

Why is Norfolk being divided up like this? Keep Ocean View and East Beach with the city of Norfolk.

This is disappointing to cut Brambleton like this. Brambleton is a prominent HOA and a community of interest. It would make more sense to unite Brambleton under the 31st and put Potomac Falls in the 32nd, which has far more ties and interests to Sterling.

This extension of SD15 north of Forest Hill Avenue essentially cuts of the western part of SD14 (that portion west of the Powhite Parkway and south of the James River) from the rest of the district. I would recommend that this portion of SD15 stay south of Forest Hill Avenue.

While I like that the City of Suffolk is all contained within one district, I am not sure why District 17 stretches all the way west beyond Emporia. Western Tidewater is a community of interest -- that includes Suffolk, IOW, Southampton County and Surry. Those localities are a part of the Hampton Roads Planning District and more effort should be made to keep within one district and then placing Brunswick, Greensville and Sussex Counties together. 

Augusta County definitely should NOT be split and should all be in the 2nd District which has other Northern Shenandoah Valley Counties. Augusta has a strong sense of identity, history, and community of interest. If that creates a population balance problem then I suggest moving Bath to the 3rd to help with that because the residents there I'm suspect feel closer to those counties than to Augusta. (If needed perhaps Highland to the 3rd also because I suspect they feel a closer affinity to Bath than Augusta).

Agree with other comments about the odd divisions in Montgomery County re: Blacksburg, Christiansburg and Radford.

This is clearly Gerrymandering!!! How can the committee have a conscious lumping the suburbs of NoVa with the rural areas of Delaplane, Marshall, and Hume???? This makes no sense to water down a rural vote with NoVa influence. Put rural with rural, suburb with suburb. This is inexcusable and blatant to flip a rural area blue!!!!

This is clearly gerrymandering! Nokesville and rural Prince William will clearly be dictated by heavy demographics of Dale City and eastern Prince William, and who they have no commonality or interest.

This is not a terrible drawing of the state senate map. I would very much prefer the configuration of Albemarle, Cville, Fluvanna, Nelson and Buckingham with no county splits, however, as these four counties are highly related in the culture of their people, their economies, their environment and terrain, and their similar needs and concerns. While this configuration is not the worst possible drawing of the map, I would very much hope the special masters and the court would reconsider this perfect opportunity for no county splits, and protecting communities of interest. This idea of "nesting" districts is quite frankly a bad idea, as it limits the ability to keep communities of interest together for no good reason.

i hate how the second district divides augusta county with the 3rd page and highland should be swapped with the third

I do not see any reason why Montgomery County should be in here. The Roanoke Valley and New River Valley should be in their own State Senate districts. Though the Roanoke area when all localities are combined is too populated, to which I'd recommend having the northern, rural half of the county in a different district, preferably one that touches Montgomery.

Franklin County placed in a district that stretches to Tennessee makes no sense. There are absolutely no communities of interest connections aside from Henry and Martinsville.

Shameful attempt at a blatant Democrat gerrymander of what would otherwise be a competitive seat.

Spotsy does not deserve to be carved up into three districts.

Four Mile Run is a natural divider of Arlington from Alexandria. Please stray from reaching that far up into Arlington to balance out an Alexandria based district. Additionally, I would also recommend folding Falls Church into a Fairfax district. Thank you!

This map breaks up communities of interest and once again puts communities together for no reason other than purely political gain. For example Dinwiddie County is broken up and put in a district with Portsmouth, while three counties in between (Prince George, Sussex, and Surry) are paired with Henrico which have nothing in common. This map is PURELY political and should be rejected by the Supreme Court in its entirety.

The Fort Belvoir community has been split. Consider removing West Springfield, which is on the other side of I-395, and adding the entire Fort Belvoir and Mason Neck communities.

I-395 is a physical boundary that divides West Springfield from the rest of this district. The Fort Belvoir area has been split. Consider removing West Springfield and adding the entire Fort Belvoir and Mason Neck communities.

This is one of the most egregious gerrymanders on this map. Eastern Loudoun has nothing in common with Warrenton. It is an effort to use a small Democrat area to dilute the vote of rural voters and make sure they are represented with someone who has little in common with them. Route 15 is a natural divider where people west of Route 15 have more in common that people east of it in loudoun.

The Roanoke and NRV districts are just not great. There are two options that would work for the area, and this map takes neither option. Option 1 is to make one district that is centered in just Roanoke city, Salem, and parts of Roanoke county, with the other district incorporating the NRV and surrounding areas. These districts would have the benefit of keeping both the Roanoke community of interest and the New River Valley community of interest together. Option 2 is to combine Blacksburg and Roanoke, which have similar economic and political interests, into one district, with the other district taking in the other more rural areas in the two regions. Again, this map does neither. It unnecessarily links Roanoke with parts of Montgomery County and does so without including Blacksburg. Linking Roanoke city and Montgomery County can make sense as a fair district, but only if Blacksburg is in that district.

Ashley Woods South/Mill Lake Quarter has NOTHING in common with Portsmouth. Nothing at all. There is no way that we would be represented well. Western Branch hasn't had decent reps in years, that's why they went downhill and lost out to Harborview in Suffolk, because no one fought to help keep them alive. South Norfolk has worked hard for years, one of the best civic league groups, to get their historical section of the city back. With For Kids, new housing development, an excellent summer Thursdays park and food trucks' event, and holding what is considered the city of Chesapeakes' annual Fourth of July parade that people love, Dollar Tree investment, they were coming back. They had the help and support of folks in power and others cheering them on. Now they will be trashed and left out. Greenbrier is THE economic downtown and commercial center of Chesapeake. What planet does any one think they'll have in common with Portsmouth, aka Uzi Village, Little Chicago? Their hospital is nicknamed Murderview. Move the boundaries so Greenbrier, the economic lifeblood of Chesapeake, will be with representation that is about solid, good, family business, not another city that is the murder capital of Virginia. Do you think getting Western Branch back is going to happen when all the problems of Ptown are going to be the focus? It was dead obvious that this map was NOT drawn by people knowing anything about the completely disparate sections it threw together.

You've gerrymandered Warrenton in half, placing one side of town in a very Loudoun centric district and the other side of town with what essential composes Planning District 9.

These look good, but switching the Thalia precinct over to the neighboring Virginia Beach district would, statistically, better equalize these two Virginia Beach districts' populations, bringing them to parity.

Another odd split in Montgomery County.

Strongly recommend pairing the city of Falls Church with Fairfax County rather than Arlington.

I like the idea of nesting House districts in State Senate districts, but it should not pertain to Congressional districts as well. It creates more splits of localities than necessary.

There is no need to really split counties for a Albemarle/Charlottesville district. Those two jurisdictions plus Fluvanna, Buckingham, and Nelson is only ~200 people off of the size of an ideal State Senate District.

A similar situation to the lack of a Stafford-Fredericksburg-King George's senate district exists here. Roanoke City, Roanoke County, and Salem would have made, give or take a few thousand people, a district without splits, yet this potential district was not created in favor of unnecessary arm out to Christiansburg and Montgomery County.

This was a real missed opportunity to draw a competitive NOVA district without any county splits that includes King George's County, Stafford County, and Fredericksburg. The earlier drafts included this potential district, and it really should have been kept in the special master draft.

I'm not happy with the district that includes part of Loudoun and part of Fauquier. The earlier drafts got this district right: have Clarke County join up with the more rural, western, half of Loudoun County to form a competitive state senate district. The weird arm here extending to northern, eastern, Loudoun to give Democrats more votes is something a gerrymander would do, and there's no geographical reason to justify it.