Former President Barack Obama gave a virtual pep talk to Texas Democrats who left the state to block Republicans from passing a new redistricting plan. The meeting happened over Zoom and lasted about 30 minutes, with dozens of Democratic state lawmakers joining from places like Illinois, New York, and Massachusetts, where they’ve been staying to prevent the Texas House from having enough members present to vote.
Normally, state political maps are redrawn every 10 years after the census, but President Donald Trump has been pushing for an early redrawing in Texas. His proposal would give Republicans five more seats in next year’s midterm elections, helping them keep control of the U.S. House. Democrats see this as an unfair power grab.
Obama avoided mentioning Trump’s name directly but strongly criticized the administration’s actions, accusing it of manipulating district maps to favor Republicans, restricting voting rights, overturning election results, using executive orders to bypass Congress, and even politicizing the military and Department of Justice. He warned that democracy is not something that maintains itself — it needs people to defend it.
He explained that Republicans know many of their policies are unpopular, so they’re trying to “fix the game” by splitting up Democratic voters or packing them into as few districts as possible, which weakens their influence. “That’s not fair,” Obama said. “That’s not how democracy is supposed to work.”
Obama praised the Texas Democrats for taking a stand, saying their actions had inspired other states, like California, to consider ways to push back against mid-decade gerrymandering. He said he was grateful for their courage and proud of the example they were setting.
Joining Obama on the call was his former attorney general, Eric Holder, who leads the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. Holder gave updates on efforts to fight gerrymandering in other states, including Ohio and Texas.
Texas Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu said Obama’s involvement proved that people across the country were paying attention to the Texas fight. Meanwhile, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has threatened to arrest, fine, or even remove the lawmakers from office if they don’t return.
