President Donald Trump is declaring war on Virginia schools, Semafor reported Wednesday — and the consequences could be far-reaching.

"Much of the tension between the administration and Virginia districts stems from President Donald Trump’s early executive orders that the US government recognize only 'two sexes, male and female,'" noted the report. In response to that order, "The Department of Education threatened on Tuesday to withhold federal funding for five public school districts — all in DC’s shadow, all strongly Democratic — over their policies letting students use sex-specific facilities 'based on ‘gender identity.’'"

There are other issues at play, however, too, with the Trump administration also accusing a highly-ranked school in Fairfax County, a wealthy suburb outside D.C., of using its "holistic" admissions process to discriminate against Asian students. This was originally referred to the DOJ by Virginia's GOP attorney general, Jason Miyares, who is currently seeking re-election.

These could function as test cases for similar fights around the country, wrote David Weigel, as the administration is "spoiling for a fight."

"While Virginia Democratic candidates have treated them as a distraction, the administration’s allegations of states’ civil rights violations fold into campaigns the GOP is already running across the country," said the report. In particular, Trump's Department of Education "opened civil rights investigations under the education law known as Title IX in Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, and New York — all states where Democrats control the governor’s office, making each probe a political challenge."

This comes, ironically, despite Trump's repeated promises that he would abolish the Department of Education outright.

The fight is also playing out in a special election in Virginia's 9th District, a blue seat in Fairfax vacated by the passing of former Rep. Gerry Connolly. Republican nominee Stewart Whitson has raged against the schools, saying, “They’re going to lose $160 million of federal funding. What are they doing that for? They’re fighting to give boys the right to be in girls’ locker rooms.”

James Walkinshaw, the former Connolly staffer now running as the Democrat to replace him, has hit back, saying, “The Trump administration hand-picked a handful of school districts because, like Stewart, they virulently cannot stand Democrats.”

Former Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger, now running for governor, stated of the controversy that “these decisions are best made at the local level with local parental input,” and her opponent, pro-Trump Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, has “a decades-long record of trying to defund Virginia’s public schools.”