The Virginia Supreme Court blocked a new Democratic-drawn congressional map from taking effect, delivering a major boost for Republicans as they defend their narrow House majority in the midterm elections.

Republicans in the state could hold a 9-0 advantage in the U.S. House with their new map, after the Supreme Court weakened the Voting Rights Act last week.

Democrats were already reeling from redistricting losses across the South ahead of the Virginia Supreme Court's ruling on Friday.

The Virginia Supreme Court struck down the Democrats’ gerrymandering referendum in a Friday ruling. Virginia voters approved a referendum on

In the ongoing redistricting wars, Virginia was seen as an opportunity for Democrats to pick up as many as four seats.

The new map would have created ten districts that favor Democrats, with just one district favoring Republicans.

Virginia's Supreme Court struck down a redistricting referendum approved by voters in a special election. The court ruled Friday that Democratic lawmakers violated procedural rules when they referred a constitutional amendment to the ballot to draw up a new congressional map that would likely have given Democrats four additional seats,

A divided Virginia Supreme Court ruled Friday that commonwealth Democrats unlawfully engineered a referendum on new congressional maps, declaring congressional districts approved by voters last month to be null and void.