Summary of Litigation

The City Council voted to place a referendum question on the November 2025 ballot regarding whether the General Assembly should change the City Charter from a 7-3-1 system, as modified by state general law in 2021, to the 10-1 system used in the last two election cycles.

A lawsuit filed in state court by former councilmember Linwood Branch and several other citizens challenges the City Council’s August 2023 adoption of the 10-1 system and seeks to require the City to adopt a new redistricting ordinance consistent with the 7-3-1 system set forth in the City Charter, as modified by HB2198 (2021). On June 30, 2025, a state court judge ruled that the City’s decennial redistricting ordinance adopting the 10-1 system was not legally valid without a corresponding change in the City’s Charter or state general law. 

If the referendum outcome shows that the public prefers the 10-1 system, that charter change request will be sent directly to the Virginia Beach General Assembly delegation for further action. If the referendum outcome shows that the public prefers the modified 7-3-1 system, then City Council would need to work with the courts to consider and potentially adopt redistricting maps for a 7-3-1 system.

An earlier lawsuit filed in federal court by Latasha Holloway and Georgia Allen challenged the former 7-3-1 residence district system set forth in the City Charter where all 11 members of City Council were elected at large but seven councilmembers were required to live in specific districts. In the Holloway case, a federal judge ruled that the City’s Charter system violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and that the City was required to use the 10-1 district system. 

The original federal court result was vacated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in July 2022, because the City’s Charter system had been modified by the General Assembly in 2021, meaning the pure Charter system was no longer in effect. That lawsuit was recently reinstated to allow the Holloway plaintiffs to challenge any system and electoral maps adopted by the City Council that they believe violates the Voting Rights Act.

For more information, please view the timeline of events on this page.

The 10-1 Local Election District System

For the past two election cycles (2022 and 2024), Virginia Beach has operated under a 10-1 district system as originally directed by a federal court in 2021 and then adopted by City Council in its August 2023 decennial redistricting ordinance. In that system, each of 10 districts is comprised of about 46,000 residents, of which approximately 36,000 are of voting age.

Three of the 10 districts are considered minority “opportunity” districts in which combined racial minorities (Black, Hispanic and Asian) make up more than 50% of the district’s population, and the composition of the district provides the opportunity for minority voters to elect candidates of their choice. Specifically, these districts are:

• District 4 – 58.8% combined racial minorities.
• District 7 – 55.4% combined racial minorities.
• District 10 – 58.5% combined racial minorities.

In the 10-1 system, the mayor is directly elected to a four-year term by all eligible voters in Virginia Beach.

• View the Local Election Districts Map

Challenges to the Election System

There have been two significant legal proceedings related to the local election system in Virginia Beach in recent years: Holloway et al. vs. City of Virginia Beach et al. and Branch et al. vs. City of Virginia Beach et al.

Holloway Case

Starting in 2017, Virginia Beach residents Latasha Holloway and Georgia Allen asked a federal court to change the City's election system. The plaintiffs alleged that the City's Charter-based voting system violated Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Right Act by diluting the voting strength of a coalition of minority voters.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia issued two opinions and orders in favor of the plaintiffs, the first one finding that the Charter-based system violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and forbidding its use in future elections, and later, ordering the creation of 10 local election districts with three minority opportunity districts. These districts were used in the 2022 and 2024 General and Special Elections.

In 2022, the City appealed the U.S. District Court’s decisions and on July 27, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued a decision finding that the federal district court had erred because the General Assembly’s passage and Governor Northam’s signing of HB2198 in early 2021 had mooted the case.

Essentially, the Fourth Circuit ruled that recent changes to state law had eliminated the election system that the Holloway plaintiffs had challenged, rendering the Holloway case moot but returning the case to the U.S. District Court for the Holloway plaintiffs to assert amended claims based on what system of election would be used going forward in Virginia Beach.

While the case remained pending in the U.S. District Court following remand, and after an extensive public input and survey process, the City Council adopted in August 2023 the previously court-imposed 10-1 system utilizing its decennial redistricting measure, and City Council further requested the General Assembly modify the City Charter to conform the Charter to the adopted decennial redistricting measure.

Although the Holloway case was dismissed after these City Council actions in 2023, it was recently reinstated by the U.S. District Court to allow the Holloway plaintiffs to challenge any election system the City utilizes in the 2026 and future elections that they believe violate the Voting Rights Act.

Branch Case

While the proposed Charter change and related bills were being considered during the 2024 General Assembly session, former Virginia Beach City councilmember Linwood Branch and several other citizens filed a lawsuit alleging that the City's adoption of the 10-1 system and district maps in its August 2023 redistricting was inconsistent with the City Charter. 

They sought to invalidate the decennial redistricting ordinance because the General Assembly and Gov. Glenn Youngkin ultimately did not adopt Charter change or general law change legislation pursued by the City in 2024. 

In August 2024, the Virginia Beach Circuit Court affirmed that the City’s use of the 10-1 system in the 2022 election was lawful and valid, and denied the Branch plaintiffs’ request for an injunction preventing the use of the 10-1 system in the 2024 election. 

On June 30, 2025, a state court judge ruled that the City’s decennial redistricting ordinance adopting the 10-1 system was not legally effective without a corresponding change in the City Charter or state general law. The order is stayed until after the referendum ballot in November of 2025.