Beginning in early March, Virginia voters, particularly members of the Black community, began receiving mailers that compared a proposal by Democrats to temporarily redraw the state’s congressional districts to the Jim Crow era.

One mailer featured images of the KKK in white hoods and teenagers running from police in the 1960s. “Just like Jim Crow, they want to silence your voice,” it read. “Our ancestors fought to represent us. Now Richmond politicians are trying to take our districts away.”

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 if voters approve it. In fact, both support the initiative.  

The mailers were sent by a little-known group, 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.

But Cordoza has a powerful backer in the effort to thwart Virginia’s redistricting referendum. His PAC has received nearly $9 million in donations in recent weeks from a dark money group funded in the past by the pro-Trump tech billionaire Peter Thiel, the PayPal and Palantir co-founder who is a longtime mentor of Vice President J.D. Vance. That group, Per Aspera Policy Incorporated, wrote four seven-figure checks to Cordoza’s PAC in March and April.

Thiel made a six-figure donation to Per Aspera Policy in 2018 to boost Kris Kobach’s 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 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.

Per Aspera Policy is registered in Massachusetts and does not have to disclose its donors. A source familiar with the group told Mother Jones that “Thiel has nothing to do with it” 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.

Civil rights groups have sharply criticized the mailers sent by the Justice for Democracy PAC. “We 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—a brutal system that stripped Black Americans of their voting rights,” the NAACP Virginia State Conference said in a statement. “This 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.”

Virginia’s redistricting referendum next Tuesday has major implications for the midterm election. Like with California’s Prop. 50, Democrats have proposed temporarily replacing Virginia’s 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 in the state’s congressional delegation. Democrats argue that such a move is necessary to combat Donald Trump’s unprecedented effort to persuade GOP states to redraw their districts mid-decade.

Democrats have largely fought Trump to a surprising draw in the gerrymandering arms race he started. But Florida is still planning to convene a special session to redraw the state’s 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, which could shift another half dozen seats 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, with the early voting turnout initially favoring more Republican areas of the state but trending toward Democrats as more polling locations opened in Northern Virginia.

“Over the past year, several Republican-controlled states have taken the unprecedented step of redrawing their congressional maps in the middle of the decade,” Obama has said. “And they’ve 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.” 

ANNANDALE, Virginia – Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax and his wife were found dead in an apparent murder-suicide at their Northern Virginia home, authorities said Thursday.

Fairfax County police said Justin Fairfax shot and killed his wife, Cerina, before turning the gun on himself. Police say the couple’s two teenagers were inside the home at the time and called 911 just after midnight.

Police said Fairfax appeared to have shot his wife several times in the basement before running upstairs to the primary bedroom, where he shot and killed himself.

Audio from emergency dispatch captured the couple’s 16-year-old son seeking help.

“Caller stating that his dad might have stabbed his mom and that she’s laying on the ground bleeding. You can see holes in her shirt,” dispatchers say.

Authorities said the couple had been separated but were still living in the same home.

“This has been an ongoing domestic dispute surrounding what seems to be a complicated or messy divorce,” said Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis.

Court filings show the couple separated nearly two years ago, and Cerina filed for divorce last summer. Records indicate financial troubles, alcohol use, and emotional and psychological issues may have played a role. Police say Fairfax was scheduled to appear in court April 21 and was ordered by a judge to move out of the home by April 30.

In January, officers responded to the home after Fairfax alleged his wife had assaulted him, but camera footage from inside the home could not corroborate his claims.

Fairfax, who served as lieutenant governor under former Gov. Ralph Northam from 2018 to 2022, was once a rising political figure.

“This will be an election that will be a battle for the heart and the soul of this country,” Fairfax told 10 News during a 2017 campaign stop in Roanoke.

In 2019, Fairfax was seen as a potential future leader of the Commonwealth during controversy surrounding Gov. Ralph Northam’s racist scandals.

However, Fairfax’s political career derailed after two women accused him of sexual assault. Fairfax said the encounters were consensual and refused calls to resign. He later lost the Democratic primary in his 2021 bid for governor.

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger said in a statement, “I am deeply saddened by the tragedy that occurred last night. I am praying for the Fairfax children, and I ask my fellow Virginians to hold them in their hearts and prayers. This tragedy reminds us that domestic violence can occur in any family and in any place.”

U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine also spoke out.

“It’s awful news,” Warner said.

“We’re very heartbroken about this,” said Kaine. “It is truly tragic.”

Police said the couple’s children, a 16-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl, are being cared for by grandparents and other family members.

Virginia’s former Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, who was a rising star in the Democratic party several years ago before his career was derailed by sexual assault allegations, fatally shot his wife before killing himself early Thursday, police said.

Both were found dead at their northern Virginia home in Annandale after the couple’s teenage son called 911 shortly after midnight, said Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis.

The couple was going through a divorce, and Fairfax was served recently with paperwork that indicated when he was next to appear in court, Davis said.

“That may have been a spark,” the chief said. “Detectives will figure out if that led to this tragedy here.”

For a brief period in 2019, Fairfax had seemed poised to become Virginia governor as Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam became engulfed in a scandal over a racist photo on his medical school yearbook that led to calls for Northam’s resignation.

But then two women came forward, accusing Fairfax of sexually assaulting them years earlier. He adamantly denied the allegations.

Vanessa Tyson said Fairfax — at the time a Columbia Law School student serving as an aide to Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards — forced her to perform oral sex in his hotel room during the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004. Two days after Tyson’s statement, Meredith Watson issued her own, accusing Fairfax of raping her in 2000, when they were students at Duke University.

Fairfax said the encounters were consensual and refused calls to resign.

The Associated Press generally does not name people who say they are victims of sexual assault, but both women came forward publicly.

“It’s very sad for this community,” Davis said. “A lot of people who know the Fairfax family, everybody’s shocked. We’re shocked.”

—-

EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org

___

Associated Press contributors include Sarah Brumfield in Cockeysville, Maryland, and Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington. Breed reported from Wake Forest, North Carolina.