By Nandita Bose
WASHINGTON, April 22 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Wednesday claimed without evidence that a Virginia vote clearing the way for the state's congressional map to be redrawn had been "rigged," reviving a familiar line of attack after Republicans lost a closely watched election.
Virginia voters on Tuesday approved a redistricting referendum that could help Democrats flip as many as four Republican-held seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and boost Democrats' chances of winning
control of the chamber in November.
In a social media post on Wednesday, Trump declared that "A RIGGED ELECTION TOOK PLACE LAST NIGHT IN THE GREAT COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA!" and blamed mail-in ballots for the outcome.
The post was the latest example of Trump casting doubt on election outcomes he dislikes by portraying ordinary vote counting, particularly the tabulation of mail ballots, as evidence of fraud without offering proof.
The outcome in Virginia is the latest twist in the nation's redistricting arms race, which Trump and Texas Republicans began last year as they sought to defend the party's slim House majority during the midterm elections in November.
Trump, who has not accepted that he lost the 2020 presidential election despite having failed in dozens of courts to challenge the results, has consistently sought to undermine faith in the voting process.
After his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden, Trump falsely claimed widespread fraud and backed efforts to overturn the result, including pressuring his then vice president, Mike Pence, to not certify the election results.
Courts, state election officials and his own administration have since found no evidence of fraud on a scale that would have changed the outcome.
In recent months, the Trump administration has stepped up its effort to revive claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. The Justice Department is seeking a swath of state voter data, while the FBI has reopened old election-fraud allegations in battleground states including Georgia.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington)
