Former President Barack Obama is calling on voters in Virginia to support a ballot measure this spring that would change the commonwealth’s constitution and cause new congressional district boundaries benefiting Democrats to be used in this fall’s midterm elections. 

In a video posted to social media on Thursday morning, Obama noted the surge of mid-decade redistricting started last year when Texas Republicans started work to shift five Democratic seats and make them more favorable to Republicans. 

Since then, California Democrats were able to redraw the lines involving five GOP-held seats to try and offset Texas’ gerrymander. Republicans in North Carolina and Missouri last year also altered a Democratic-held seat in each of their respective states to try and help the GOP. 

“In April, Virginians can respond by making sure your voting power is not diminished by what Republicans are doing in other states,” Obama, a Democrat, said in the video. “This amendment gives you the power to level the playing field in the midterms this fall.” 

Republicans hold a narrow majority in the U.S. House and are contending with the prospect of losing control of the chamber this fall when every seat is on the ballot. 

Virginia Democrats’ redistricting effort has proven to be a lengthy process, and legal concerns have surrounded much of the work and thrown some uncertainty into the outcome. The commonwealth’s map in place at the moment resulted in six House seats for Democrats in the 2024 election and five for Republicans. Plans offered by elected Democratic leaders this year would try and shift those lines in a way that could result in  sending 10 Democrats back to the House and just one Republican. 

“Democrats’ illegal gerrymandering power grab is an affront to democracy and rigs our maps to turn Virginia into a one-party state,” the Republican Party of Virginia said last month on social media, adding “It is an intentional effort to silence and disenfranchise half our Commonwealth.” 

After the 2020 Census, both Democratic and Republican led states indulged in the well-worn practice of gerrymandering, drawing districts that favored their own parties and lessening the chances of competitive races. 

But the series of mid-decade redraws impacting the 2026 midterms essentially represent a break from tradition and have put Democrats in the position of having to backtrack on some of their past messaging on the issue. “For too long, gerrymandering has contributed to stalled progress and warped our representative government,” Obama himself said on social media in 2020. 

A statewide vote is set for April 21 on whether to change Virginia’s constitution and give the General Assembly the ability to change the maps just months before general election contests will be held. Early voting is set to start Friday. 

Virginia is more of a purple state, and it’s unclear what will happen to the constitutional amendment in the April 21 special election. Republicans widely oppose the effort, and additional congressional redistricting in GOP-led Florida could lessen the impact of any changes made in Virginia. 

Arlington, Virginia, resident Anjali Sharma — stuck in the Middle Eastern since Saturday — documents her story on social media from a hotel in Doha, Qatar.

“I think it really hit me when I saw black smoke coming from afar on one of the buildings, and it ended up being a missile that got defused, and the debris fell on the ground and caused an explosion,” Sharma said.

She was on her way to a wedding in India and had a layover in Qatar when Iran’s retaliatory strikes began. The airspace in Qatar and several other nearby countries is closed.

Sharma is alone. She says the rest of her family she was supposed to meet with had their flights canceled.

She says it’s incredibly unsettling.

“I hear explosions every day,” Sharma said. “I hear planes going outside. I mean, I still hear military jets, right now. I don’t really know what that means.”

She is one of several thousands of Americans stranded in the Middle East. The State Department said it’s assisted almost 6,500 Americans since the conflict began.

Sharma says she hasn’t been able to get any clear guidance.

“I would just really appreciate it if the U.S. government could get clear guidelines of what they’re going to do to get us out and when that even may be,” she said.

U.S. Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., has been critical of the Trump administration’s evacuation efforts. He says his office has heard from about 100 families whose loved ones are stranded abroad.

“The primary reason the State Department exists is to serve Americans living abroad, and they’re desperately failing at that, right now,” he said.

The White House said the secretary of state issued Level 4 travel advisories dating to January. But Qatar was not one of the countries given a do-not-travel advisory.

The State Department Wednesday created a new form for stranded citizens to fill out. They say it will provide departure information about available aviation and ground transportation options.

Sharma hopes it’s her ticket out.

“I just want to get out of here safely at this point.”

The New York Giants will be forced to hold their 2026 training camp, the first with John Harbaugh as head coach, out of state.

Per a report from the New York Post, the Giants will hold what will likely be the first two weeks of training camp in West Virginia at the Greenbrier Resort, located in White Sulpher Springs.

Part of the reason for the move is the fact that World Cup games will be held at MetLife Stadium this summer. There is also ongoing construction at the Giants’ facility at 1925 Giants Drive. The Giants are expanding their locker room, weight room, dining facility and office space at their headquarters, constructed in 2009. That work began before Harbaugh was named head coach.

NFL teams have used the Greenbier extensively since 2014, when it was first established to host training camp for the New Orleans Saints. The Houston Texans and Cleveland Browns have held training camps there, and other have practiced there during extended road trips.

The facility has two grass fields and a FieldTurf field, as well as all of the other accommodations an NFL needs.

The Giants have trained at their own Quest Diagnostics Training Center in East Rutherford, N.J. since 2013.

Exact dates for NFL training camps have not yet been set, but the starting date is generally some time in late July. Per the Post, most practices at the Greenbrier are expected to be open to the public.