Jeffries defends Virginia redistricting as 'temporary measure' to stop Trump from trying to 'rig' midterms

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., declared in a CNN interview Tuesday that Democrats’ victorious effort to temporarily redistrict Virginia was intended to stop President Donald Trump’s "power grab."

"It was important for Democrats to push back aggressively across the country to stop Donald Trump‘s gerrymandering scheme, which was designed to rig the midterm elections," Jeffries told CNN's Laura Coates. "They thought we were going to step back, but we‘ve made clear that we will fight back, and we‘re going to keep our foot on the gas pedal."

Democrats scored a major victory Tuesday when Virginia voters narrowly passed a congressional redistricting referendum that could give the party a significant boost in the battle for the U.S. House of Representatives majority in this year's midterm elections, The Associated Press reported.

The ballot measure gives the Democrat-controlled Virginia legislature — rather than the state's current nonpartisan commission — temporary redistricting power through the 2030 election. It could result in a 10-1 advantage for Democrats in Virginia's congressional delegation, up from their current 6-5 edge.

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"Clearly, an instance of trying to fight a fire with fire," Coates told Jeffries. "But the number of Republican-leaning districts in Virginia is going down from five to one, and there will be many who complain that gerrymandering is gerrymandering is gerrymandering. Is that fair In Virginia?"

"Well, this is a temporary measure that was a response to Donald Trump‘s efforts to rig the midterm elections," Jeffries said. "We needed to stop the MAGA power grab. 

"And what‘s different about our approach, and I‘m thankful for what was done in California — led by Gavin Newsom and the California congressional delegation and the state leaders in the great state of California — is that we took the map to the people, and that‘s what was done here in Virginia."

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He added that he was thankful for multiple people, ranging from Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger to former President Barack Obama, declaring "this was an all-hands-on-deck effort to make sure we level the playing field, and we stop Donald Trump‘s national MAGA power grab."

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and did not receive an immediate reply.

Fox News' Paul Steinhauser, Jasmine Baehr and Charles Creitz contributed to this report.

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