Jonathan Falwell told congregants on Tuesday to vote no on Virginia’s redistricting referendum, calling the ballot measure an effort by people in Richmond to “subvert the common way and the right way to do things.” Falwell, the chancellor of Liberty University in Lynchburg and pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church, said he has never and will never tell anyone how to vote — then spent much of his remarks making clear how he thought people with Biblical values should act.
Falwell said the measure, which was on the ballot in Virginia on Tuesday, was being sold as a push to restore fairness, but he said that definition of fairness would shift the state’s congressional makeup from 6-5 to 10 leaning to the liberal side and one leaning to the conservative side. He also said he expected angry letters and emails for speaking out, but added, “I don’t care.”
He described the referendum as a decision made by people in Richmond rather than a choice involving any candidate, and said, “There is only one way to vote on Tuesday and that is to vote no.” In a separate line, Falwell said, “We cannot allow the Commonwealth of Virginia to be taken over by a simple group of people who just simply believe that their way is the only way.”
The comments carried extra weight because Falwell is one of the most prominent conservative religious voices in the state and because the redistricting fight has been bitterly contested. reported that the measure could give Democrats four more House seats, and opponents of Virginia’s redistricting referendum were hitting ballot boxes on Tuesday. Wendell Walker later praised Falwell for speaking out after sharing his remarks.
The episode showed how the referendum had moved beyond maps and numbers into a broader political and cultural fight. Falwell framed it as a test of Biblical values and the basic rules of democracy, while supporters argued the same vote was about restoring fairness. The result, on a day when Virginians were already being asked to decide the issue, was a public call from one of the state’s best-known pastors to reject the plan outright.
