Update: Major donors to the Virgina Redistricting ballot measure

For the Capital Research Center’s previous analysis of the funding behind mid-decade Congressional redistricting in Virginia, click here.

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In April, voters in Virginia narrowly approved a constitutional amendment that—barring judicial intervention—will suspend the state’s independent bipartisan redistricting commission and allow the Democrat-controlled General Assembly to draw new federal Congressional districts ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The aggressively gerrymandered map which has been proposed could yield a U.S. House delegation of ten Democrats and just one Republican. Virginia’s current delegation consists of six Democrats and five Republicans.

The ballot measure was by far the most expensive in the state’s history. Both sides raised tens of millions of dollars, though public disclosures reveal that the new map’s supporters were significantly better-resourced than its opponents. Here is what is known about their respective finances and funders.

Supporters

The campaign in favor of the gerrymandering amendment was led by a committee called Virginians for Fair Elections. Data compiled by the Virginia Public Access Project as of May 4 reported that it had raised a total of $66,121,864, while official state campaign finance disclosures reported $65,121,496 worth of large contributions from February 6 through April 24. Of these large contributions, $63,240,000 was in cash, with the remainder being in-kind. The vast majority (94 percent) of these in-kind contributions came from the Democratic Party of Virginia and the activist group New Virginia Majority.

Just five groups—all of which are organized as 501(c)(4) nonprofits—accounted for over 96 percent of all large cash contributions reported by Virginians for Fair Elections from February 6 through April 24:

• House Majority Forward ($39,300,000): an advocacy group that is formally affiliated with House Majority PAC—the self-described “only Super PAC solely focused on electing House Democrats.”
• The Fairness Project ($11,725,000): a group that supports left-of-center ballot measures nationwide, and whose major funders have included the SEIU United Healthcare Workers West labor union, the Sixteen Thirty Fund, and the Hopewell Fund.
• Fund for Policy Reform ($5,000,000): a 501(c)(4) that exists within the Open Society network funded by George Soros. It is also the sole source of funding for the Open Society Action Fund, which conducts the network’s more explicitly political grantmaking.
• American Opportunity Action ($3,500,000): a new nonprofit that received its 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status from the IRS in September 2025. No public financials for the group are yet available, though an April 2026 New York Times article described the group as “perhaps the newest big player in dark-money politics.”
• Global Impact Social Welfare Fund ($1,500,000): a 501(c)(4) that exists under the Global Impact Ventures organizational umbrella, and which receives major funding from an associated 501(c)(3) called Global Impact.

Opponents

The largest committee formed to oppose the gerrymandering amendment was Virginians for Fair Maps RC. The Virginia Public Access Project’s data as of May 4 reported that it had raised a total of $21,833,564, while official state disclosures reported $24,065,000 worth of large contributions from March 2 through April 20—all of which was in cash. Nearly all (over 97 percent) of this money came from a separate but identically named group called Virginians for Fair Maps. This makes it impossible, at least for now, to trace the funding trail further.

Opponents of amendment also operated through a second committee called Justice for Democracy. The Virginia Public Access Project’s website reported as of May 4 that Justice for Democracy  had raised $7,670,000, while official state disclosures listed $10,170,000 worth of large contributions from March 10 through April 24—all cash. Over 95 percent of these large contributions came from a 501(c)(4) nonprofit called Per Aspera Policy Inc. Little information is available regarding Per Aspera’s funding. It raised $2.9 million in 2024, but just $92,399 in 2023. Though billionaire Peter Thiel has reportedly contributed to the group in the past, a source told Mother Jones that he has had “nothing to do with it” for years and was not among Per Aspera’s current donors. If true, this would make Virgina attorney general Jay Jones’ public claim that Thiel was “spending millions in Virginia” on the redistricting measure a false one.

Looking Ahead

As of this writing, the Supreme Court of Virginia has not ruled on pending legal challenges to the amendment, though it is expected to do so soon. Multiple other states have also embarked on mid-decade redistricting efforts. One illustrative battleground is Missouri, where a Republican-led effort could potentially face a ballot referendum in November. Some of the very same groups and networks that supported the Democrat-driven gerrymandering in Virginia (including American Opportunity Action, the Fairness Project, the Global Impact Social Welfare Fund, and the Open Society Action Fund) are currently opposing it Missouri. Such is the hypocrisy of politics.