Virginia is for Voters: Will Redistricting Measure Pass?

[0:00] It's Tuesday, April 21st. It's election day for the election itself. We start here. [0:08] Virginia voters are set to decide whether to stack the deck in Democrats' favor. [0:13] This map, as it's drawn, could help Democrats pick up as many as four seats. [0:19] This is the latest in a series of redistricting attempts how this one could reshape the midterms. [0:25] President Trump's labor secretary steps down. [0:28] President Trump's calculation was that he really wasn't getting much out of this. [0:32] There were multiple scandals building here. Which one made the president lose patience? [0:37] And a rising star is charged with first-degree murder. [0:40] They allegedly said he was lying in wait to murder her. [0:44] Disturbing details are coming into focus from Los Angeles. [0:49] From ABC News, this is Start Here. I'm Brad Milkey. [0:59] This year's midterm elections will, of course, be pivotal for the next two years. [1:03] They could even be pivotal for how we remember the whole Trump era. [1:06] Remember, Republicans hold a tiny majority in the House. [1:09] Meaning, if Democrats flip even a few seats, Trump's legislative agenda could be torpedoed. [1:15] Impeachment could be on the table. The works. [1:17] But what is so strange about these midterms is many Americans don't even know which congressional district they will be living in on Election Day. [1:25] While maps are usually redrawn at the start of each decade, new ones are still being finalized right now. [1:30] This started with Texas Republicans pushing through a new map in the middle of the decade that was openly gerrymandered to favor the GOP. [1:39] Just a very simple redrawing. We pick up five seats. [1:42] California responded with a new gerrymandered map of their own that favored Democrats. [1:47] They fired the first shot, Texas. [1:49] They said, we'll ditch this if Texas rolls back their map. [1:51] But guess what? Texas didn't. [1:53] And California voters approved. [1:55] After poking the bear, this bear roared. [1:57] That began this back and forth. Missouri was next. [2:01] Then North Carolina, each favoring Republicans. [2:04] Well, today, Virginia voters are set to vote on a new map that could dramatically alter who represents them. [2:10] Let's get into it with ABC's political director, Avery Harper. [2:12] Avery, this is a map seemingly drawn by Democrats for Democrats. [2:16] How is this about to work today? [2:17] So lawmakers in Virginia have been refining this new map. [2:24] And this map, as it's drawn, could help Democrats pick up as many as four seats, [2:30] making all but one of their currently Republican-held seats be drawn, tilting in the favor of Democratic lawmakers there. [2:38] So Virginia voters are going to be casting ballots on this measure that will allow the state legislature to change the rules so that they can adopt this new map. [2:46] This amendment gives you the power to level the playing field in the midterms this fall. [2:52] On the Democratic side, you have some pretty big names. [2:54] You've got former President Barack Obama weighing in. [2:57] Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger are all backing the yes, the pro-redistricting opinion here. [3:04] I supported the formation of Virginia's bipartisan redistricting commission in 2020. [3:10] And that support has not changed. [3:11] Their argument is really that this is necessary and temporary to counter what they view as Republican-led efforts in other states to redraw maps that advantage the GOP. [3:23] This amendment is temporary, is temporary and responsive to this moment in time where we have a president who has gone to other states seeking additional congressional seats, saying he's, quote, entitled to them. [3:36] Currently, Virginia is a pretty purple state. [3:41] The congressional delegation is almost evenly split. [3:44] It's six Democrats to five Republicans. [3:47] And so what we would be seeing would be an aggressive sort of change as we see this larger redistricting fight play out in places across the country. [3:58] Yeah. Is this being received as like, yeah, all's fair in love and politics? [4:01] Or how have Republicans responded to this? [4:03] You know, on the Republican side, you have prominent names there. [4:06] Former Governor Glenn Youngkin has been out there for the anti-redistricting effort. [4:10] We believe in fairness. [4:12] We believe in what's right. [4:14] We believe in the basic concept of electing representatives to serve us in government who live near where we live. [4:21] President Trump urged a no vote on the eve of the election with a tele-rally. [4:26] And their argument really does cut at the Democratic position. [4:29] They're saying, wait a second here, there are some Democrats who've spent many years criticizing gerrymandering, calling for independent commissions, calling for fair maps. [4:39] And now when it's politically advantageous to them, they're willing to redraw the districts for themselves. [4:45] What Abigail Spanberger has done is lied to everybody in the Commonwealth of Virginia. [4:49] That's what she's done. [4:50] So you have this situation where on both sides, these parties accusing each other of trying to rig the system. [4:58] Is this thing going to pass? Do we have a sense? [4:59] You know, it's really a toss-up. [5:01] The Democrats cannot play such a low game. [5:04] The Republicans have been playing dirty. [5:06] So I think the Democrats are good to play dirty. [5:09] Like I mentioned earlier, Virginia is a pretty purple place to be. [5:12] But I do think it's just really important to remind folks that what we're seeing here is not normal. [5:18] It is highly unusual. [5:19] States typically only redraw their congressional districts every 10 years after the census or in response to some sort of court order. [5:28] And so what we're seeing here is a purely partisan effort in states across the country, a sort of tit for tat that we're continuing to see to redraw these maps for partisan reasons. [5:39] With that in mind, Avery, it does seem like every seat, therefore, is that much more. [5:43] Like you cannot overestimate how important each of these seats seem to be to the White House and to the Democratic caucus. [5:48] Totally. [5:48] You know, but the thing is, when I talk to members of both parties, there is a belief that at the end of the day, even though there's been millions and millions of dollars spent on redistricting efforts in places across the country, turning out voters in places like Virginia and in California, that ultimately it may end up being a wash, right? [6:09] There may not be a huge advantage for either party when it comes to some of these redistricting efforts. [6:18] Six states have redrawn their maps. [6:20] Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, California and Utah. [6:24] And Republicans so far are going to pick up about nine seats potentially from those changes. [6:30] Democrats right now could gain about six. [6:34] Virginia could even out the score even more. [6:37] The Virginia Supreme Court still has to make a decision about the referendum's legality if Virginians vote yes on April 21st. [6:45] But there's still some other places that could be considering redistricting. [6:50] States like Florida are going to be weighing the idea of redrawing their congressional maps as well. [6:55] Right. [6:55] And what's also interesting here is a lot of Republican-led states have it so that just the legislature, whoever controls the legislature, can push through a new map if they feel like it. [7:04] In a lot of these Democrat-led states, they decided we want this to be, you know, nonpartisan actors drawing these maps to be fair. [7:11] But that's why you're seeing then voters have to approve these new clearly partisan maps. [7:15] And the result is, is that voters in Virginia, it's not even 60-40, it's like 53-47. [7:21] These voters are being told, hey, it's in your best interest because of what's going on in other states that almost all of you people in this purple state be represented by Democrats in Congress. [7:30] That is the calculus that is so interesting here. We'll see what voters have to say about it tonight. [7:35] Avery Harper, thank you. [7:36] Thanks, Brad. [7:39] Next up on Start here, President Trump is no stranger to scandals, so what convinced him to send another cabinet secretary packing? [7:46] We're back in a bit. [7:52] Throughout much of 2025, President Trump's cabinet looked nothing like his cabinet in this first term, meaning no one was resigning or getting fired. [8:00] Well, so far in 2026, multiple cabinet secretaries have been forced out of their jobs. [8:05] Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Attorney General Pam Bondi. [8:09] Well, yesterday, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez de Reimer announced she was stepping down as well. [8:15] ABC's Washington Bureau Chief Rick Klein joins us now. [8:18] Rick, this is not necessarily a household name, but I mean, Secretary Chavez de Reimer oversaw the federal government's policies on hiring and workplace safety and labor rights, all the stuff the Labor Department does. [8:27] And now she's leaving? Why? [8:28] Yeah, she's also one of the few members of this cabinet to get broad bipartisan support and being confirmed. [8:33] But she's departing now after about a year in office. [8:36] She says it was an honor and a privilege to work for the man she says is the greatest president in her lifetime and says she's on her way to the private sector. [8:44] But of course, her time in public office has been clouded by scandal in the last couple of weeks. [8:49] Just a series of embarrassing reports that have sparked an inspector general report, reports that her husband was accused of sexual harassment at her workplace at the Department of Labor. [8:59] Even talk about using official travel to take members of her staff out to strip clubs. [9:03] Just a lot of things were piling up and some of them are about to reach ahead with the inspector general's report. [9:08] So the White House is saying there's nothing to see here, but clearly there was a lot going on behind the scenes. [9:13] Wait, wait, wait. And by the way, she's denied any wrongdoing. [9:15] But can you take me back to the husband thing? [9:16] Because sexual harassment at we're talking about the Labor Department. [9:20] This is the place that irons out sexual harassment and sexual discrimination cases on a normal day. [9:26] Yeah. And her husband was actually banned from the department headquarters after this information came out, according to The New York Times. [9:33] They even said there was one of these incidents caught on security camera, although he denies that the incidents were as they were described. [9:39] But but yeah, it is shocking stuff. And it sort of blurs into the background of the of the Trump era because so many things happened. [9:46] But this is one of those things that had happened under any other time would have been a white hot Washington story that everyone was talking about for for for weeks, if not months. [9:54] Yeah. What what does this tell us? I guess that we've seen these three sort of ousters, I guess we'll call them ousters, even though these these cabinet secretaries would tell you they've resigned voluntarily. [10:03] But does it tell us anything about how President Trump is approaching cabinet controversies this time around? [10:09] Yeah, it's interesting, Brad, and I think it really does. [10:10] For first, you know, if you look at just the aggregate of the first 13 or 14 months in office, it's about the same pace, believe it or not, for cabinet secretaries. [10:17] But the perception is a lot different because there was so much tumult early in the Trump era and there were resignations and firings that happened over ideological clashes. [10:25] That's not happening here. None of the three women that you just mentioned who lost their jobs in the last couple of weeks from the Trump cabinet had any discernible big public clash with President Trump. [10:35] They were pretty loyal to him and they remain loyal on the outside. [10:38] And my guiding principle will be President Trump's guiding principle. [10:42] You had a combination of either a scandal or perceived scandal in this case, as well as the case of the Homeland Security secretary and in the case of the attorney general, I think, are just a frustration about the pace under which she was ongoing some of the big asks that were really demands from President Trump. [10:58] And so in some ways, Trump's second term has more patience for scandal and more of an ability to outlast the scandal. [11:04] In other times, though, he just flips on a dime. [11:06] And once he realizes that there's just no more value there, I think the through line of these three is that President Trump's calculation was that he really wasn't getting much out of this. [11:15] None of these three women were delivering much for him in his perception right now and therefore were perceived as either expendable or just a better fit for someone else and someone new. [11:26] Does that not apply then to thinking of some of these? You also mentioned these are all three women. [11:30] I don't know if that plays into this at all. But are any of these other cabinet secretaries perhaps immersed in scandal, but then giving him more politically somehow? [11:38] Yeah. I mean, look, you know, look at the secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth. [11:43] And, you know, there were there were issues early in the term with the signal gate, the use of that encrypted app. [11:47] Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, along with other top members of President Trump's national security team, sharing details about a planned large scale attack on Yemen. [11:58] Hegseth's still there and now we're in the middle of a war that the president says continues to be successful. [12:03] But there's been clashes behind the scenes with Tulsi Gabbard, including the departure of one of her former top aides that certainly could have could have led to and could still lead to her ouster. [12:12] And of course, the information that's come out the last couple of days about Kash Patel sparking a lawsuit Patel has filed against the Atlantic. [12:19] He says there's nothing to the reporting about his alleged use of alcohol after hours. [12:24] But Trump hasn't given up on those individuals yet. [12:27] I do think that Trump, to the extent that he's been strategic about these things, he makes an on or off decision. [12:34] And once he makes that decision, you're done. [12:36] And that was the clear message in the cases of Kristi Noem and certainly for Pam Bondi and now the labor secretary. [12:43] They all got that message and they all left and did what he would consider to be the right thing. [12:48] This didn't come after someone wrote a scathing op ed or there was some leaked information behind the scenes that they were disloyal. [12:53] This was just look, this is this person is just not worth it anymore to President Trump. [12:56] Right. But then you're seeing also like some of these sort of political wins that the president can claim off the backs of some of these other cabinet secretaries. [13:03] Really interesting. Just the transactional nature you're describing here. [13:07] Rick Klein in Washington. Thank you so much. [13:09] Hey, thanks, Brad. [13:09] Over the last few years, a new artist broke out into the music scene. [13:15] His name is David Anthony Burke. [13:16] He goes by just David with a four instead of an A. [13:19] And on the surface, this guy was a breath of fresh air, a real singer songwriter, kind of an indie rock vibe. [13:25] He actually got his start by creating little soundtracks for his own video game montages. [13:29] Well, then by 2022, we had a record deal. [13:31] By 2023, he had an album. [13:34] Last year, he was the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award winner for Male Breakout Star. [13:39] The song he was most known for was called Romantic Homicide. [13:52] Well, then in September, human remains were found in the trunk of a car registered to Burke. [13:58] The victim was a 14-year-old girl. [14:00] And yesterday, David Anthony Burke was charged with a grisly murder. [14:04] ABC's Trevor Ault is in L.A. where these charges were filed. [14:08] Trevor, what did police say happened here? [14:09] Well, we finally got some details from investigators, Brad, and they still aren't revealing all that much [14:14] because now that this is a first-degree murder case that could very well go to trial, [14:19] it could potentially lead to a death penalty sentence. [14:22] They, of course, are keeping things close to the chest. [14:24] But they did reveal what appears to be, in their mind, the alleged motive for why they say David killed this 14-year-old girl. [14:31] And essentially what they said is that he had been in a sexual relationship with this 14-year-old Celeste Revis that was going on for months. [14:39] And then they claimed that he killed her because of that relationship. [14:43] It meant that she was a witness to a crime, the crime being that sexual relationship, given how young she was. [14:49] And they say that he wanted to protect his status as a rising star. [14:53] This murder was committed for financial gain, as the evidence will show in court. [14:59] The financial gain was for Mr. Burke to maintain his very lucrative musical career that Celeste was threatening on that particular night. [15:11] He knew that she had witnessed and experienced all of these sex crimes and killed her because of it. [15:18] They had allegedly said he was lying in wait to murder her. [15:22] And according to the charging documents, they say he used a sharp instrument as a deadly weapon. [15:27] But we still don't know kind of the official date or time. [15:31] The only thing that they've said in terms of timing, Brad, is that she came to his house April 23rd of last year. [15:37] And while they don't specify when she was allegedly killed, they say that around May 5th, on or around May 5th, he mutilated her corpse. [15:57] Now, by that timeline, that means that she would have been killed sometime in that two-week stretch. [16:03] And then it was another four months until her body was discovered in the trunk of a Tesla that was in an impound lot. [16:10] Well, and Trevor, the way prosecutors described it, it sounded like mutilated barely began to cover it. [16:15] A thousand percent, especially. [16:16] I mean, the details aren't gruesome. [16:18] Her dismembered and decomposed remains were found in two bags inside of a front trunk of a car registered to Mr. Burke. [16:32] This isn't the way that I think a lot of people necessarily want to start their mornings, Brad, listening to this. [16:37] But it was discovered because the workers at the impound lot could smell the body. [16:42] And that's what led the LAPD to that. [16:44] But that's also the reason that then this became a months-long investigation. [16:50] There were a lot of people who, as soon as her body— [16:52] This is the thing, Trevor. [16:53] I keep wondering. [16:54] This body was found in September, I think. [16:57] Right. [16:57] He was labeled a suspect in February. [17:00] So, I mean, why now? [17:01] Like, what do authorities say tipped it over the line for them? [17:03] The day that he was discovered in the trunk of a Tesla registered to him, there were a lot of people saying, well, why aren't you arresting him? [17:10] And the reason is a number of different things. [17:12] Number one, they needed to gather a lot of different evidence. [17:15] But especially because it had been, according to their timeline, at least four months since she had been killed, the body had been cut up and then was heavily decomposed. [17:24] And what that meant is it was extremely difficult to determine the cause of death. [17:29] The substantial amount of time that passed between her death and the discovery meant that crucial evidence had degraded or disappeared. [17:37] It's one thing to say we found a body in a trunk that belongs to David. [17:42] It is another thing to be able to prove that the body was murdered and how she was murdered and then who did it. [17:50] So they said that they've had to painstakingly go over these details for many, many months. [17:54] I asked the district attorney, what makes you confident you can prove these allegations? [18:00] What makes us confident is the totality of the evidence that has been obtained by the LAPD robbery homicide, by the work that the district attorney's office has done. [18:11] That they've done a lot of different pieces of investigation. [18:15] They have these other crimes now, the alleged sex crimes, the timeline for when they say she went over to his house. [18:22] They say that there's going to be a lot of digital and forensic evidence that they will be introducing over the course of the trial. [18:28] But this investigation, of course, has been a long time coming for an arrest that a lot of people have been saying needs to happen now since September. [18:37] How has Burke responded to all this? [18:38] So from the beginning, he has maintained he is innocent through his attorney. [18:43] And once he was arrested last week on Thursday, his attorney put out a statement that was very specifically worded. [18:49] I noted it wasn't simply these allegations are nonsense. [18:52] It was, according to the attorney, says the actual evidence in this case will show that David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez and wasn't the cause of her death. [19:03] Very specific wording, but denying all of these allegations. [19:06] And we would like to be able to let the evidence come into the light of day at the earliest opportunity in order to establish that. [19:17] And David himself made his first court appearance yesterday afternoon. [19:21] He pleaded not guilty. [19:23] They've been adamant from the beginning, but the D.A. is adamant that they are prepared to go to trial. [19:28] And they believe they can prove he murdered this 14-year-old beyond a reasonable doubt. [19:32] All right. [19:33] Trevor, terrible case there in Los Angeles. [19:35] Thank you so much. [19:36] Thank you, Brad. [19:38] Okay. [19:38] One more quick break. [19:39] When we come back, repeat after me, parrots can teach us lessons, too. [19:44] One last thing is next. [19:49] And one last thing. [19:50] Everyone's got a story about being different for some reason or another growing up. [19:56] Whether it was something large or small, you get singled out. [19:59] And in middle school, people describe feeling like they're in a nature documentary, fed to the wolves, only the strongest survive. [20:06] But perhaps the real animal kingdom celebrates difference more than we thought. [20:14] Bruce. [20:20] He's a parrot. [20:21] Specifically, a Kia parrot from New Zealand. [20:24] These creatures are beautiful. [20:25] They're olive green on the outside with some blue and black feathers. [20:28] But when they raise their wings, there's this brilliant flash of orange. [20:32] Bruce is missing the top of his beak. [20:36] You know how most parrots have that big, curved overbite? [20:39] Bruce is rocking more of a pair of short pliers look. [20:43] Researchers think he lost the beak as a juvenile, perhaps in a rat trap. [20:46] To a parrot, a beak is your Swiss Army knife. [20:50] You use it for everything. [20:51] To eat, to preen your feathers, to catch bugs, to pry things open. [20:54] It's often used as an extra claw for climbing. [20:57] Not having one could be a death sentence. [21:00] But in captivity, Bruce seems to have adapted better than researchers expected. [21:09] In a study published yesterday in Current Biology, scientists from the University of Canterbury in Christchurch said that Bruce has become the alpha male of his circus. [21:19] Yes, by the way, a group of Kia parrots is called a circus. [21:22] Part of the reason he's commanded this respect from his peers is a pretty simple one. [21:26] He wins fights, regularly. [21:29] While Kias usually nip at each other with their beaks, Bruce just charges in with a claw that throws his challengers off balance. [21:36] It's like a jousting move. [21:37] But it's not just parrot pugilism that makes this extraordinary. [21:41] Bruce has also adapted in other ways. [21:44] Like, instead of preening himself with the tip of his beak, he's now learned to pick up rocks and use them as backscratchers. [21:50] His ingenuity, along with his street smarts, have earned him certain honors. [21:57] He often now goes to the front of the line for feeding time without even so much as being challenged by the others. [22:04] Now, this is unfolding in captivity, where there are fewer threats, there's less food scarcity. [22:08] But even in the wild, we have seen this phenomenon where a seemingly disabled animal gets social status. [22:15] Jane Goodall documented a chimpanzee who had lost an arm only to retain his rank, [22:20] while a Japanese macaque who could no longer walk was seemingly afforded deference by his peers. [22:26] As in all life, in all circuses, parrot or human, disability doesn't define you. [22:32] Differences are there to be celebrated. [22:34] And many thanks to our partners at Nat Geo for surfacing this, letting me parrot some of their own reporting. [22:43] More on all these stories on ABC News Live or wherever you stream live news. [22:46] I'm Brad Milkey. See you tomorrow.