You have to be pretty confident – no, read that “arrogant” – to tell 2.7 million Virginia voters that you’re willing to stick it to them.

But that’s exactly what Virginia House and Senate Democratic leaders appear ready to do at 4:00 pm on Monday, all in the cause of enhancing political power and rejecting the voters’ will.

In 2020, Virginia approved a change to the highly partisan redistricting process in Virginia, with more than 2.7 million voters (66 percent of the vote) approving a Constitutional Amendment placing redistricting in the hands of a bipartisan Redistricting Commission. If the Commission fails to agree on new maps, the amendment throws the issue into the hands of the Virginia Supreme Court to decide.

Thanks to the voters’ decision to support the amendment, that’s exactly what happened when redistricting last took place. The result is a General Assembly with a 21-19 Democratic majority in the Senate and a 51-49 Democratic majority in the House of Delegates.

Of Virginia’s 11 Members of Congress, 54.5 percent (six) are Democrats, having gained 51.8 percent of the votes for Congress. Five Members of Congress (45.5 percent) are Republican, having won 48.2 percent of the four million votes cast for Congress.

All in all, Virginia’s district lines produced elected officials that are about as evenly matched as they could possibly be.

But that’s not good enough for Democrats in the General Assembly.

Now, just five years later, Democratic leaders in Richmond are calling legislators back into session to reclaim the power voters deliberately took away. They intend to throw out the bipartisan redistricting commission and once again put the map-making process squarely under the thumb of politicians.

But this requires a Constitutional Amendment to replace or amend the one passed by 66 percent of Virginia voters in 2020. The process requires passage by the General Assembly in one session, an intervening election, passage by another General Assembly, and approval by the voters.

The current Democratic House and Senate plan is to circumvent that process while paying lip service to it by a) passing changes in a “snap” session called on 72 hours notice, b) continue this year’s election as if nothing had happened, c) pass the changes again in January, and d) call a special election in the spring when fewer voters vote and no one is paying attention.