Virginians approved a new congressional map on Tuesday that would dramatically reshape the state's political landscape. The new district lines, drawn by Democratic state legislators and approved by Gov. Abigail Spanberger, could net Democrats as many as four additional U.S. House seats.

The new map creates eight safely Democratic districts and two competitive districts that lean Democratic, according to a New York Times analysis of 2024 presidential results. It leaves just one safe Republican seat, down from the five the G.O.P. currently holds. The map eliminates three Republican-held seats in part by slicing the densely populated suburbs in Arlington and Fairfax Counties and reallocating their overwhelmingly Democratic voters into five congressional districts, some stretching more than a hundred miles into Republican areas.

Perhaps the most extreme new district is the Seventh, which begins at the Potomac River and stretches to the west and south in a manner that resembles a pair of lobster claws. Several well-known Virginia Democrats have already announced their candidacies and begun campaigning in the district, which currently lacks an incumbent representative.