Sweeping changes in Virginia’s state legislative and congressional districts brought about by a redistricting order issued on Dec. 28 by the Virginia Supreme Court have significantly changed the makeup of the Manassas area district of Virginia House of Delegates member Danica Roem (D).

In 2018, Roem became the nation’s first out transgender person to be seated in a U.S. state legislature after she defeated longtime Republican incumbent and LGBTQ rights opponent Bob Marshall in the November 2017 election.

Roem, who is one of four out LGBTQ members of the Virginia General Assembly, appears to have been impacted the most by the redistricting among her three LGBTQ colleagues.

Gay state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria), gay state Del. Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax County), and lesbian state Del. Dawn Adams (D-Richmond area) were assigned new districts that retained most of their existing Democratic constituents or include new Democratic leaning areas, according to sources familiar with their districts.

State Del. Joshua Cole (D-Fredericksburg area), who identifies as bisexual, ended his tenure as a delegate this week after losing his re-election bid in the November election to Republican Tara Durant by 647 votes. The state’s redistricting changes place both Cole and Durant in a newly created 65th District that Stafford County Democratic Party activist Matt Rowe said makes the highly competitive district slightly more Democratic leaning.

Rowe said Cole, who the Blade was unable to reach for comment this week, indicated he plans to run again for the delegate seat in the next election.

The Virginia Supreme Court assumed the responsibility of redrawing the state’s congressional and state legislative districts under a state constitutional amendment approved by voters in a 2020 referendum. The redistricting measure approved by voters assigns the authority of creating the new districts to a bipartisan redistricting commission made up equally of Democrats and Republicans.

But the commission became deadlocked after each of the two-party representatives was unable to agree on a redistricting plan. Under a provision of the redistricting law, if the commission cannot reach an agreement, the matter is sent to the state Supreme Court, which appointed two redistricting experts called masters to redraw the state’s congressional and state legislative district maps to conform with population changes determined by the 2020 U.S. Census. One of the masters was selected by Democrats and the other by Republicans, according to a statement released by the court.

“We drew maps which did not unduly favor either party,” special masters Sean Trende and Bernard Grofman said in a statement. “These maps came about as part of a partisan and incumbency blind process based on good government map making,” the two said.

The changes made by the two masters carved Roem’s existing District 13 into three new districts – District 20, 21, and 22. Roem, who lives in the new District 20, is now the state delegate representing that district. Under rules established under the new redistricting law approved by voters, all the new districts took effect immediately on Dec. 28.

In response to a request by the Blade for her assessment of these changes, Roem said her new district consists of just six and a half of the 18 voter precincts that made up her former District 13. The other two-thirds of the precincts in her new district include residents that she had not represented before in Prince William County.

It couldn’t immediately be determined whether her new constituents are mostly Democrats, Republicans, independents, or a mix of all three.

“I live in the new House District 20 and will deal with my political future after this year’s Virginia General Assembly session ends in March,” Roem told the Blade in an email message.

“I’m confident the people of greater Prince William would continue to support me as a lifelong Prince William County resident from Manassas who served as their newspaper reporter for more than nine years from 2006-2015 before earning three terms now to serve them as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates,” she said.

“During my first two terms in office, the governor signed 23 of my bills into law – all with bipartisan support – including three bills to advance LGBTQ equality, so I’ve been effective at delivering for all of my constituents, LGBTQ residents included,” Roem said.

Gay Democratic activist Jim O’Connor of Prince William County, where Roem’s new district is located, said he believes the voter makeup of the new district would likely make it possible for her to win re-election in 2023 or possibly in 2022. Rowe, who said he also follows Prince William County politics, said he too thinks Roem is in a good position to win re-election whether in 2022 or 2023.

A lawsuit filed in federal court by some redistricting opponents is calling for a special House of Delegates election in 2022 on grounds that the redistricting resulted in large numbers of residents being represented by lawmakers they had no opportunity to vote for in an election, which may be in violation of the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit is expected to be resolved sometime early this year to make it known whether a special Virginia House of Delegates election will take place this year in addition to the regularly scheduled election in 2023.