Del. Ware offers himself a false choice when he sets his party against his race.

During the Martin Luther King holiday, while the nation’s first black president was renewing his oath of office and one of Virginia’s black state senators traveled to witness such a meaningful occasion, Republican senators — without prior notice or public hearing — orchestrated a despicable farce.

They approved new senatorial districts that would dilute minority voices throughout much of Virginia, meaning they created “safe” Republican seats by shifting more black voters into existing Democratic districts. Republicans justified their naked power grab by noting that it would also create a new majority-black district in Southside.

Continue reading this editorial.