House Democrats privately admit they don't have much hope of gaining the House back in 2016, but they are eager to engage strategists and donors in the long game: challenge GOP-drawn maps in court, plot to win back governorships in 2018, and raise money for state legislative races in 2020 that will be critical for the next round of map-drawing in 2020. For now, it's all about "chipping away," and the last month has given them two small victories. In Florida, the state Supreme Court invalidated the 2012 GOP-drawn map as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander, and Republicans in Tallahassee appear ready to sacrifice a net of one seat (even if they claim Democratic Rep. Gwen Graham's 2nd CD). This week, Democrats' good news came from Virginia, where a deadlocked legislature means a court will redraw the state's districts. On Monday, Democrats in the state senate pulled a surprise procedural move to adjourn the chamber, meaning the legislature won't pass a new map by the court-mandated September 1 deadline. Federal judges had twice ruled that the African-American majority 3rd CD is
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