CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Tom Perriello’s yard signs won’t likely mention the district he’s seeking election in. They will tout “Perriello for Congress.” With the questions surrounding the district maps, that’s the smart play.

“This may be one place where it’s useful to live in a digital era,” Perriello told Cville Right Now. “We were doing almost all of our communication by digital. It’s a little easier to change the 5 to 6. But it is confusing for people. And I think, in the next few weeks, one of the most important things is just accurate public information.”

With the future of the Democratic redistricting effort months from being resolved, candidates running in June’s primaries, seeking a spot in November’s general election, are facing unprecedented uncertainty about who exactly they will be running to represent – and who they may be running against.

Virginia’s 5th District – which currently includes Albemarle County, Charlottesville, Fluvanna, Greene and Nelson Counties – is represented by Republican John McGuire, who has declared he will seek re-election.

Perriello, the last Democrat to hold that office, announced in December he would seek his party’s nomination, and a crowded field of potential primary foes quickly fell in line behind him. Perriello represented the 5th from 2009-11.

But if voters pass a Democratic-backed redistricting amendment – and if the Virginia Supreme Court rules the redistricting amendment process was done lawfully – Albemarle and Charlottesville would move into the 6th District. Early voting in the redistricting referendum begins March 6 and ends April 18. The in-person election is scheduled for April 21.

That district is currently represented by Republican Ben Cline, with Roanoke Democrat Beth Macy declared to challenge Cline.

Macy announced in November but had begun planning in October.

“The redistricting news makes it harder because now to cover all the bases, it’s kind of like you’re running in one-and-a-half districts,” Macy told Cville Right Now. “There is some overlap and I’m trying to focus on that overlap a lot.”

For Macy, a former Roanoke Times journalist who gained national acclaim as the author of “Dopesick,” a book that looked into America’s opioid crisis, that will mean pushing farther north, campaigning in Albemarle and Charlottesville.

For Perriello, it will mean working farther south in Virginia, in Roanoke, and to the west, in Harrisonburg.

“It’s probably a lot more gas mileage and that’s not cheap these days,” Perriello said. “But, you know, we are still adjusting to this new kind of environment. We are in a position again where I’m not starting from scratch because I’ve done a lot of community work across these areas as both in my nonprofit leadership days and, you know, in politics. And so I think it’s an exciting opportunity to understand where we have common ground.”

Gov. Abigail Spanberger and one of Virginia’s U.S. Senators, Tim Kaine, have both endorsed Macy in the 6th District and Perriello in the 5th. Where will they put their support if the new maps go into effect, pitting Macy and Perriello against each other in a potential big-money Democratic primary in June? That’s just one of the questions that loom over the race.

For his part, McGuire said he’s hopeful the Virginia Supreme Court will end the redistricting initiative, ruling Democrats’ process unlawful. He declined to say which district he would run in if redistricting proceeds.

“The only thing I’m focusing on, I’m just focusing on my current district and serving these people,” McGuire told Cville Right Now. “They hired me for two years. I’m not done with my job.”

Phil Riese, the newly-elected chair of the Albemarle Republican Committee, said the challenges are even worse in areas where counties could be divided up into different districts.

“You have counties like, up in Northern Virginia, you have, Fairfax County, for example, where that county is split up into five different congressional districts,” Riese told Cville Right Now. “I can’t imagine even being a registrar and trying to figure out the ballots if this map goes through.”

Riese said the local GOP is planning an informational forum for March with Del. Tom Garrett and others.

“We’re coming out with this forum that can help educate the local population on what this redistricting, what this gerrymandering map would look like,” Riese said. “There’s an uphill battle trying to educate the local public.”