"You don't count these veterans out," Sabato said, but if the map takes effect, others in the GOP caucus look "very vulnerable."

Because the entire General Assembly map will be redrawn in 2021, the court-ordered House map would only be in effect for the 2019 elections. House members serve two-year terms.

Republicans have appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which will hear new arguments in the matter this spring. But the high court refused a GOP request to halt the lower court's map-drawing, allowing Virginia's primary cycle to begin under the lines chosen by the court.

Tuesday's order was a blow to House Republicans facing the real possibility of losing a majority that seemed unassailable before the election of President Donald Trump. Republicans lost 15 seats to Democrats in 2017 and preserved the majority only by winning a luck-of-the-draw tiebreaker in a deadlocked Newport News race.

That district, represented by Del. David Yancey, R-Newport News, would shift Democratic by 13.6 percentage points, according to VPAP. In the Hampton Roads area, the districts held by Dels. Gordon Helsel, R-Poquoson; Chris Stolle, R-Virginia Beach; and Barry Knight, R-Virginia Beach, would also see significant Democratic shifts.