Former GOP state delegate A.C. Cordoza, founder of the Justice for Democracy PAC.<\/span>Mother Jones illustration; Steve Helber\/AP<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Beginning in early March<\/span>, Virginia voters, particularly members of the Black community, began receiving mailers<\/a> that compared a proposal by Democrats to temporarily redraw the state\u2019s congressional districts to the Jim Crow era.<\/p>\n One mailer featured images of the KKK in white hoods and teenagers running from police in the 1960s. \u201cJust like Jim Crow, they want to silence your voice,\u201d it read. \u201cOur ancestors fought to represent us. Now Richmond politicians are trying to take our districts away.\u201d<\/p>\n Other mailers used past quotes from Gov. Abigail Spanberger and former President Barack Obama critiquing gerrymandering to make it seem as if they opposed the redistricting referendum on April 21, which could net Democrats up to four new seats<\/a> if voters approve it. In fact, both support the initiative<\/a>. \u00a0<\/p>\n The mailers were sent by a little-known group<\/a>, the Justice for Democracy PAC, that was founded by former state delegate A.C. Cordoza, who served two terms as the only Black Republican in the Virginia legislature before losing his seat last November.<\/p>\n But Cordoza has a powerful backer in the effort to thwart Virginia\u2019s redistricting referendum. His PAC has received nearly $9 million<\/a> in donations in recent weeks from a dark money group funded in the past<\/a> by the pro-Trump tech billionaire Peter Thiel, the PayPal and Palantir co-founder who is a longtime mentor<\/a> of Vice President J.D. Vance. That group, Per Aspera Policy Incorporated<\/a>, wrote four seven-figure checks to Cordoza\u2019s PAC in March and April. <\/p>\n Thiel made a six-figure donation<\/a> to Per Aspera Policy in 2018 to boost Kris Kobach\u2019s failed campaign for governor of Kansas. Per Aspera Policy also gave $200,000 in 2022 to a super PAC supporting Vance when he ran for Senate in Ohio. Thiel donated $15 million<\/a> to that pro-Vance super PAC, at the time the largest amount ever given by a single donor to a political campaign. The pro-Vance super PAC was run by Republican strategist Luke Thompson, who is the current president of Per Aspera Policy. <\/p>\n Per Aspera Policy is registered in Massachusetts and does not have to disclose its donors<\/a>. A source familiar with the group told Mother Jones<\/em> that \u201cThiel has nothing to do with it\u201d and has not donated to Per Aspera Policy for years. They declined to say who the donors to the group currently are, but said Thiel was not one of them. <\/p>\n Civil rights groups have sharply criticized the mailers sent by the Justice for Democracy PAC. \u201cWe denounce the manipulative mailers sent by a MAGA-aligned political action committee aimed at deterring Black voters from supporting this referendum, which falsely compare this important measure to Jim Crow\u2014a brutal system that stripped Black Americans of their voting rights,\u201d the NAACP Virginia State Conference said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cThis referendum addresses the manipulation of congressional seats, designed to imbalance representation and secure conservative wins ahead of the November midterm elections. We cannot stand idly by and allow these reprehensible racist tactics go unchallenged.\u201d <\/p>\n Virginia\u2019s redistricting referendum next Tuesday has major implications for the midterm election. Like with California\u2019s Prop. 50<\/a>, Democrats have proposed temporarily replacing Virginia\u2019s current district lines, which were drawn by a bipartisan commission and result in a split of six Democrats and five Republicans, with a new map that could give Democrats a 10-1 advantage<\/a> in the state\u2019s congressional delegation. Democrats argue that such a move is necessary to combat Donald Trump\u2019s unprecedented effort to persuade GOP states to redraw their districts mid-decade.<\/p>\n Democrats have largely fought Trump to a surprising draw in the gerrymandering arms race<\/a> he started. But Florida is still planning to convene a special session<\/a> to redraw the state\u2019s congressional map, which could net Republicans anywhere from two to five more seats, while the Supreme Court is weighing whether to strike down the key remaining section of the Voting Rights Act<\/a>, which could shift another half dozen seats<\/a> to the GOP depending on the timing of the decision. Virginia thus represents the last, best opportunity for Democrats to play offense on redistricting before the midterms. Polls show the referendum narrowly passing<\/a>, with the early voting turnout initially favoring more Republican areas of the state but trending toward Democrats<\/a> as more polling locations opened in Northern Virginia.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the past year, several Republican-controlled states have taken the unprecedented step of redrawing their congressional maps in the middle of the decade,\u201d Obama has said<\/a>. \u201cAnd they\u2019ve done it for a simple reason: to give themselves an unfair advantage in the midterms this fall. In April, Virginians can respond by making sure your voting power is not diminished by what Republicans are doing in other states. This amendment gives you the power to level the playing field in the midterms this fall.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.motherjones.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20260416_Virginia-Redistricting_a.png\")
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