Redistricting has become a major point of contention during the Trump administration, especially after Republicans attempted to redraw districts mid-decade in Texas and Florida. In response, Democratic lawmakers in Virginia have pushed for a new state constitutional amendment that would allow the state to redraw congressional district boundaries mid-decade under certain conditions. Unsurprisingly, this proposal has caused a significant uproar among Republicans. Recently, the debate escalated when the Page County Democratic Committee created a billboard in Virginia using a photo and quotes of Trump, aiming to persuade voters to support the amendment.
The Virginia billboard contains the words: “President Trump says, ‘take over voting.’ Vote yes on redistricting April 21.” Under that, you could read that the billboard was paid for by the Page County Democratic Committee. When images of the billboard circulated online, many Republicans expressed outrage, claiming the message was false and misleading to voters.
Attorney Tim Anderson even claimed that he had spoken to the chair of the Page County Republican Party and offered to file a federal Lanham Act lawsuit to seek an emergency injunction in federal court against the Page County Democrats. He also urged Republican voters to send money to the Page County Republican Party so they could hire him to sue the Democrats for making this billboard in Virginia.
The response online was quite mixed. There were those who supported Tim Anderson and wanted the Page County Democratic Party to get sued. However, there were also those who remarked that this Virginia billboard was not a lie.
“The pearl clutching here is hilarious. I mean, he did say that. And it’s not out of context. He has encouraged Republicans to take control of the voting process and encouraged Texas to do what Virginia is doing. The biggest difference is that Virginia will allow voters to choose whether we move forward with it. Texas didn’t allow a choice,” one user said. Another wrote, “Where’s the lie? That’s what Trump said.”
Others remarked that the Virginia billboard also clearly stated that it was paid for by a Democratic Party, and if people failed to read the claim, that was their own responsibility. “If you’re too careless to actually read a ballot measure, understand what it’s going to do, and then vote accordingly, I don’t feel bad for you being ‘tricked’ just because you need Trump’s face next to something in order to know you need to vote for it,” one commenter wrote.
