To get a sense of just how much things have changed over the past 10 years in the General Assembly, consider Kevin G. Miller. Back then, when Virginia lawmakers last carved up the state’s legislative districts, Miller was a lonely Republican in a sea of Democrats. As just one of two GOP politicians on the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee, he sponsored the Republican Caucus’s redistricting plan, but the heavily partisan panel quickly approved its own instead.

Now, the senator from Harrisonburg is the one holding the cards. As chair of the Senate Elections Committee and a joint legislative redistricting panel, Miller will be the man to know this spring when the legislature draws new political districts.

His transformation symbolizes Virginia Republicans’ rise to power. It’s one of two significant trends marking this year’s redistricting, the second being the population shift toward more congested urban areas. Redistricting is expected to create more legislative seats in Northern Virginia at the expense of more rural areas like Southwest Virginia.

Republicans clearly have the upper hand. They head into this year’s redistricting exercise controlling both the Senate and House of Delegates. They also hold the seats of governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. The Republican majority has the clout to draw new voting districts that will entrench the GOP for years. "We have the responsibility now," says Miller, who remembers clearly how it felt to be in the minority in the 1980s and early 1990s. Democrats fear the exercise will cut deeply into their numbers, especially in House of Delegates races slated this fall.

As they redraft voting maps, Republicans could throw two or more Democratic legislators into a single district, or put Democrats in Republican-leaning districts. The GOP goal: use the process to edge out key Democrats they have not been able to defeat in elections, like House Minority Leader C. Richard Cranwell, the tactical force in the Democrat caucus. "They are going to cut this thing up to benefit those in power and to stay in power," observes Daniel G. LeBlanc, president of the Virginia AFL-CIO, a reliable Democratic supporter.

Lobbying groups say that with a rough balance between Democrats and Republicans, the business community has fared well in terms of winning favorable laws. For their part, legislators give high marks to the business lobbies. A Virginia Business survey of legislators found three business groups — the Home Builders Association of Virginia, the Virginia Automobile Dealers Association and utility powerhouse Dominion Virginia Power — to be the most influential lobbies in the state. While Republicans often are regarded as more pro-business, it cuts both ways. "Some of the most conservative members of the General Assembly — those most respectful of property rights — have been on the Democratic side," says Michael L. Toalson, executive vice president of the Home Builders.

The GOP takeover isn’t the only dynamic that’s changed since the last redistricting exercise. Virginia’s population is growing faster in Northern Virginia than anywhere else, with obvious implications for the General Assembly’s makeup. Rural lawmakers who once dominated the legislature — many of them tied closely to businesses in their small communities — are on the endangered list. "In the last decade, the rural lawmaker has found himself in the minority, and that’s a substantial change in Virginia," says Clayton Roberts, executive director of the business research group Virginia FREE.