ruling, but yes, Wilder was the Gov. and Dems had both VA houses at the time. I always hated those "special" carved out districts (although I don't dispute the intentions were good hearted, but the results were easily foreseen.) for this very reason - by making the one noncompetitive, you make the others around it that way as well. And that facilitates the rise of the extremes, primarily the TPers, because these races just come down to getting "primaried". That's the problem with letting the party in power decide what is "right", be it redistricting, abortions, gun control, or locker room usage. When that power shifts, you probably won't like the results.

I just find it funny that it's the Dems now complaining the loudest about redistricting when they were the ones pushing these special districts to begin with. But now they don't like it because so many state houses are now GOP led and they used that same game to their advantage to do it.

For the record, I would happily support anyone that believed district lines can only be drawn using straight lines. But then you lefties would complain about underrepresented segments of the population again. You guys just can't help playing the victim card either way. :-)