One Virginia Democrat would've broken the tie and stopped the Republicans from gerrymandering the state senate districts, but he was attending the inauguration with hundreds of thousands of other Americans. So the Republicans exploited his absence and did it anyway. Bad, bad form.
While the eyes of the nation were turned toward President Barack Obama’s second inauguration on Monday, the Virginia State Senate managed to hurriedly pass a bill that would redistrict the state’s senate seats. [...]
According to Virginia politics blogger Ben Tribbett, the move could potentially eliminate at least one Democratic seat, the 25th district, which currently belongs to former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Sen. Creigh Deeds (D).