Virginia’s highest court threw out Democrats’ effort to draw more blue-leaning seats ahead of the midterm elections, in another win for Republicans as they try to hang on to their narrow majority in the House of Representatives.

In a decision Friday, the Virginia Supreme Court found that the legislative process used to advance the new map violated the state’s constitution, which “ incurably taints the resulting referendum vote and nullifies its legal efficacy.”

Under the court’s ruling , the current Virginia map—which has six Democratic districts and five Republican districts—will remain in place. State voters had recently approved a newly redrawn map that was designed to make the split 10-1 in favor of Democrats.

The decision lands in the center of a furious, tit-for-tat scramble by states to draw new congressional maps in ways intended to give either Republicans or Democrats an edge in 2026 midterm elections.

Virginia was following the lead of California, which voted overwhelmingly last year to redraw its map and add as many as five Democratic-leaning seats, in a bid to counter Texas’ creation of as many as five new Republican-leaning seats.

When Virginia voters approved the map with Democratic gains, it was expected to neutralize new Republican-leaning seats from Missouri, Ohio and North Carolina. The Friday decision puts Republicans further ahead in net gains from the effort, particularly after Republicans approved a new map in Florida.

The scramble has intensified after a Supreme Court decision last week that placed sharp new curbs on the use of race in constructing congressional districts. That decision immediately triggered efforts from Republican state lawmakers in Louisiana, the subject of the case, as well as other southern states such as Alabama and Tennessee, to redraw their maps to eliminate more Democratic districts ahead of November.