Obama Backs Newsom’s Conditional Redistricting Plan Amid Texas GOP Push

Former President Barack Obama has stepped into the rare mid-decade redistricting fight, backing California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s conditional plan to alter congressional maps in response to Republican-led efforts in Texas.

“I believe that Gov. Newsom’s approach is a responsible approach,” Obama said Tuesday at a Martha’s Vineyard fundraiser, according to excerpts obtained by The Associated Press. “We’re not going to try to completely maximize it. We’re only going to do it if and when Texas and/or other Republican states begin to pull these maneuvers. Otherwise, this doesn’t go into effect.”

Obama acknowledged that political gerrymandering was “not [his] preference,” but warned that Democrats must counteract Republican moves or risk losing ground. “If Democrats don’t respond effectively, this White House and Republican-controlled state governments all across the country will not stop, because they do not appear to believe in this idea of an inclusive, expansive democracy,” he said.

The event raised $2 million for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC) and its affiliates. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Attorney General Eric Holder, who leads the NDRC, also attended.

The remarks came as Texas lawmakers reconvened to push a new congressional map that could add five Republican-leaning seats — a plan driven by former President Donald Trump to protect GOP control of the House. Texas Democrats stalled the process earlier this month by leaving the state, preventing a vote.

Spurred by Texas, Democratic governors have begun weighing their own mid-decade redistricting strategies. In California — where voters handed map-drawing power to an independent commission in 2010 — Democrats have advanced a proposal that could deliver the party five additional U.S. House seats. If approved by voters in November, the plan could leave Republicans with as few as four of California’s 52 seats.

Tuesday’s hearing on the measure broke down in a partisan shouting match before Democrats advanced the proposal on a party-line vote. The legislature is expected to finalize the map and set a Nov. 4 special election for voter approval this week.

Newsom and Democratic leaders stress that their changes would be temporary, applying only until after the 2030 census, and only if Republicans move forward with new maps of their own. Obama praised that condition, calling it “a smart, measured approach, designed to address a very particular problem in a very particular moment in time.