Former President Barack Obama took to X to criticize the Republican-led effort to redistrict Texas mid-decade, which would boost the Republicans' chances of maintaining their majority in the House following the 2026 midterm elections.
We can’t lose focus on what matters – right now, Republicans in Texas are trying to gerrymander district lines to unfairly win five seats in next year’s midterm elections. This is a power grab that undermines our democracy.
We can’t lose focus on what matters – right now, Republicans in Texas are trying to gerrymander district lines to unfairly win five seats in next year’s midterm elections. This is a power grab that undermines our democracy. https://t.co/lBGo5aNbyp
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 5, 2025
The former president, unfortunately, is quite familiar with favorable redistricting efforts for the Democratic Party. He reposted a message from All On The Line, a group tied to the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC) that partnered with Obama back in 2019 to launch a program called “Redistricting U.”
Training is at the heart of organizing. It’s why I’ve always made it a priority – from my 2008 campaign until now. And it’s why I’m proud to announce @allontheline’s in-person training initiative, Redistricting U. Join us: https://t.co/yrWJ50wSdE pic.twitter.com/HiKvGd2XyE
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 26, 2019
In his announcement about the group, he stated:
I’ve always believed that training is at the heart of organizing. It’s why I made it a priority in my 2008 campaign and throughout our larger movement for change in the years since. … The movement for fair maps will determine the course of progress on every issue we care about for the next decade. And we can’t wait to begin organizing when the redistricting process starts in 2021. We need to build this movement from the ground up – right now.
The former president does not dislike redistricting based on principle; he dislikes it when it does not meet his ends, or the ends of his party.
Recently, Texas Republicans have drawn up a new congressional map that would create up to five GOP-leaning districts deep in Democratic territory, mainly in Austin, Dallas, and Houston, where Trump pulled off surprising wins in 2024. Democrats, naturally, threw a fit. Rather than lose the vote, they fled the state entirely, holing up in blue states like Illinois, New York, and Massachusetts to block the quorum needed to finalize the maps.
Governor Greg Abbott threatened to expel the Democratic lawmakers and is even floating criminal charges. Just recently, he announced that arrest warrants were issued for the lawmakers who fled. Meanwhile, left-wing leaders in New York and California are vowing revenge gerrymandering of their own.
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