Obama Backs California Redistricting

Former president Barack Obama on Tuesday said he supports California Democrats’ moves to redraw congressional districts to offset similar efforts from Texas Republicans, the Washington Post reports.

Said Obama: “I wanted just a fair fight between Republicans and Democrats based on who’s got better ideas, and take it to the voters and see what happens.”

He added: “But I want to be very clear: Given that Texas is taking direction from a partisan White House that is effectively saying, ‘Gerrymander for partisan purposes so we can maintain the House despite our unpopular policies, redistrict right in the middle of a decade between censuses’ — which is not how the system was designed — I have tremendous respect for how Governor Newsom has approached this.”