CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) -- A veteran Virginia state senator is fighting to keep his seat from a fellow Democratic House delegate all because of redistricting.

On Monday night, incumbent Senator Creigh Deeds debated Delegate Sally Hudson over mental health and guns.

This year’s elections will be a little different from years past. Charlottesville and Albemarle County will be voting in District 11 instead of the 25th, which is now obsolete.

"AOC versus Chuck Schumer in a national context," said J. Miles Coleman with the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

That's the analogy Coleman selected to describe this race. 

"Senator Deeds, who is a Schumer-type figure, he's one of the most senior Democrats, he's been in politics for 30-ish years. Kind of running against a younger, more upstart, maybe even more progressive type of candidate," he said.

Sometimes redistricting can turn allies into opponents. That’s exactly what’s happening with Hudson and Deeds, who are both running for the 11th District seat in the state Senate.

"This is going to be the first Virginia legislative election under the new lines that were drawn by our state Supreme Court, not by the legislators themselves," said Coleman.

A forum was held on Grounds on Monday to display the new and competitive relationship between the two. The two candidates spoke on a slew of issues, including mental health and gun laws, both of which made the news once again on Monday following a shooting in Louisville, Kentucky.

"2020 was a sea change in how we do gun safety policy in Virginia. We finally started passing a host of laws," said Hudson.

"There are lots of things we can do with firearms. We can fund things like the BUCK Squad, we can fund things that are community interceptors or interventionists," said Deeds.

Hudson agrees.

"Some of it requires proactive investment in community institutions that will prevent violence before it starts," she said.

Hudson will face Deeds in the Democratic primary June 20.