Obama and Holder clarify their support for Virginia redistricting in new videos

By Brentin Mock

WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 15: (AFP OUT) (L-R) U.S. President Barack Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano look on during the 32nd annual National Peace Officers' Memorial Service at the West Front Lawn at the U.S. Capitol May 15, 2013 in Washington, DC. President Barack Obama delivered remarks at the event, invoking the law enforcement officers who worked to bring the Boston Marathon bombing suspects to justice. (Photo by Olivier Douliery - Pool/Getty Images)

Former president Barack Obama made perhaps his clearest case for supporting Virginia Democrats’ redistricting efforts in a video released Friday.

The move was made necessary because GOP-backed groups have been running ads in Virginia of Obama saying in the past that he was against partisan redistricting, possibly to confuse voters as early voting on the measure draws to a close today. Voters will have another chance to vote in the special election on April 21.

However, Obama is unequivocally pushing for Virginia voters to approve Democrats’ plans to redraw the state’s congressional map for this year’s midterms, as are a slate of Democratic leaders from across the nation. This is needed, they argue, to counterbalance similar GOP redistricting campaigns in other states that would allow Trump to more easily implement his agenda.

“By voting ‘Yes’ you have a chance to do something important not just for the commonwealth but for our entire country,” said Obama in the new video. “By voting ‘Yes,’ you can push back against the Republicans trying to give themselves an unfair advantage in the midterms.”

Obama is backing an amendment to the Virginia constitution that would allow it to redraw congressional districts so that Democrats could potentially win four extra seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Republicans have redistricted maps to give themselves extra House seats in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina, and are planning to do the same in Florida.

Meanwhile, Virginia Republican groups have been running ads and sending out mailers emphasizing Obama’s past opposition to this kind of political gerrymandering.

Virginia lawmakers themselves were, in fact, opposed to it not long ago, and created a bipartisan commission in 2020 to help ensure that redistricting did not become a partisan project.

However, the constitutional amendment that Obama is asking voters to support this year would temporarily suspend Virginia’s bipartisan commission so that Democrats can level the political playing field in response to Republicans’ redistricting power grab. The bipartisan commission would be restored in time for Virginia’s 2031 standard redistricting plans under the new law if passed.

Many of the Republican ads and mailers opposing this effort have targeted Black voters, using images of the Ku Klux Klan and Jim Crow-era voter intimidation to convince them not to support the ballot referendum.

It was enough that former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder entered the chat, posting his own social media video on Thursday to clear the air on the mailers and Obama’s support for redistricting Virginia.

“Now, let me be straight with you. These ads are deceptive. They’re disgraceful and they’re deeply racist. And to add insult to injury, they are lying about President Obama,” said Holder. “This is the real deal: President Obama, Gov. Spanberger, the NAACP and black leaders across the Commonwealth are urging Virginians to vote ‘Yes.’ I am urging you to vote ‘Yes.’”