Obama labels Texas redistricting push 'a power grab that undermines our democracy' https://ift.tt/2B5PDF3
Former President Barack Obama, accused Texas Republicans — who are pushing to pass redistricting legislation in the Lone Star State legislature — of engaging in gerrymandering, which involves redrawing district lines to benefit a particular political party.
Texas Republicans trying to pass redistricting legislation during a special session have been stymied by state House Democratic lawmakers fleeing the state in order to deny the quorum required for votes.
"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," Obama declared in social media posts.
"Dems only call it ‘gerrymandering’ when it’s in a Republican state," GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah remarked when retweeting Obama's post on X. "When it happens in Illinois, they call it 'democracy.'"
Obama made the comments on social media platforms when sharing posts by All On The Line, an effort which he has previously indicated that he helped former Attorney General Eric Holder launch.
COLBERT CONFRONTS JB PRITZKER WITH MAP SHOWING ILLINOIS GERRYMANDERING
"Three years ago, I helped @EricHolder launch @AllOnTheLine, a people-powered campaign to fight gerrymandering and advocate for fair redistricting. All On The Line is driven by the core belief that voters should choose their representatives—not the other way around," Obama declared in a 2022 post on X.
Holder served as attorney general during much of Obama's White House tenure.
Obama's comments in that 2022 tweet echoed remarks he made during his final State of the Union Address, which he delivered in January of 2016.
During that speech, Obama opined that the nation needed to "end the practice of drawing our congressional districts so that politicians can pick their voters, and not the other way around."
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