Jack S. Hurley Jr.
Virginia 29th-circuit judge in Tazewell County; voided 2026 redistricting referendum void ab initio.
Last refreshed: 19 May 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Did Hurley's single ruling close every Democratic redistricting path for November 2026?
Timeline for Jack S. Hurley Jr.
Cook moves 5 Virginia seats on a voided map
US Midterms 2026Ruled authorising House bill void ab initio and permanently enjoined certification
US Midterms 2026: Virginia map vote passes, then voidedWhy did Judge Hurley void the Virginia redistricting referendum?
What happens to Virginia's redistricting after Judge Hurley's ruling?
Who is Judge Jack Hurley in Virginia?
Background
Judge Jack S. "Chip" Hurley Jr. became a central figure in the 2026 Virginia redistricting dispute when, on 22 April 2026, he ruled the voter-approved redistricting referendum void ab initio, permanently enjoining the Virginia State Board of Elections from certifying the result. Hurley found that the authorising legislation had not been validly approved in two separate legislative sessions as required by the Virginia constitution, and condemned the ballot wording as "flagrantly misleading". The ruling created an immediate operational crisis: with no certified map, the 25 May 2026 candidate filing Deadline became the binding constraint on any appeal.
Hurley sits on the 29th Judicial Circuit of Virginia, based in Tazewell County in the south-west of the state. He was appointed to the Circuit Court in August 2012 by Governor Bob McDonnell (R), having previously served as a General District Court judge in the same region and before that as a prosecutor for the Town of Tazewell and in private practice. He holds a degree from Davidson College and a J.D. from the University of Richmond School of Law, and resides in Bluefield, Virginia.
The Virginia Supreme Court heard oral arguments on 27 April 2026 but issued no ruling and set no timeline, leaving Hurley's injunction in effect and Cook Political Report's downward revision of five Virginia House districts contingent on a map that cannot yet be certified. Whether his strict two-session reading of the Virginia constitution survives appellate review will determine whether Democratic-leaning district lines take effect before the 2026 midterms.
Hurley's 22 April 2026 ruling was the procedural trigger that started the collapse of the Democratic redistricting programme. The Virginia Supreme Court upheld the substance of his analysis in a 4-3 ruling on 8 May 2026 in Scott v. McDougle, finding the legislature had violated the intervening election rule by completing the first of two required votes on the amendment text after approximately 1.3 million ballots had already been cast in the 2025 general election.
With the SCOVA ruling, Hurley's injunction became permanent and the 2021 bipartisan commission maps remain in force for 2026. Cook Political Report's conditional shifts of five Virginia House seats toward Democrats — VA-01, VA-05, VA-07 to SAFE Democrat; VA-06 to Likely Democrat; VA-02 to Lean Democrat — were voided. The ruling closed the last Democratic redistricting track for the 2026 cycle with no federal appeal PATH.