Eric Holder to strategize with House Democrats on redistricting
Why it matters: Holder has long championed nonpartisan redistricting reform, but he and other Democrats are putting those efforts aside — at least temporarily — to try to ward off electoral oblivion for their party in 2026.
Republicans in Texas, at the urging of President Trump, are moving to redraw their state's congressional districts in an effort to create as many as five new Republican seats.
Democrats have threatened to respond in kind by undertaking similar gerrymandering efforts in California, New York and elsewhere, while Republicans are looking to Ohio, Indiana, Missouri and Florida to make additional gains.
What we're hearing: Holder will join a call on Wednesday hosted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, a source familiar with the plan confirmed to Axios.
Holder's attendance was earlier reported by Punchbowl News.
Most House Democrats have largely supported redistricting reform in the past — but they say the Texas redraw presents an emergency that requires them to do their own gerrymandering in response.
In California, where Democrats would likely get most of their seats, the state would need to sideline or scrap its independent commission in order to redraw the maps.
Zoom out: Holder served as attorney general under former President Obama from 2009 to 2015. During his tenure, Republicans swept state legislative elections and redrew U.S. House maps across the country in their favor.
In 2017, Holder launched the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, whose mission includes taking redistricting out of the hands of legislators through the establishment of independent commissions.
But he has changed his tone on the issue in recent weeks in response to the Texas GOP, saying in a Meet the Press interview: "Authoritarian moves are being made ... and there has to be a response to that."
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an hour ago
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Kevin Kiley, David Valadao, Ken Calvert, Doug LaMalfa and Darrell Issa. If successful, the effort would net Democrats 48 of the state's 52 congressional seats; the party currently controls 43. Other districts that Democrats have narrowly won would also be consolidated into friendlier terrain. Political data scientist Paul Mitchell, a redistricting veteran, drafted the maps. 'Our proposed map was created using traditional redistricting criteria, consistent with guidelines laid out by the California's Citizen Redistricting Commission,' according to a cover letter from Julie Merz of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee included with the map. 'It allows for more compact districts than in the current Commission-drawn map, keeps more communities and neighborhoods together, splits fewer cities, and makes minimal disruptions to the Commission-drawn map so as to impact as few residents as possible,' Merz wrote. 'This is a striking contrast from Texas' proposed gerrymander, which redrew all but one of their 38 congressional districts to minimize the state's growing minority voting strength.' The draft maps, which leaked online ahead of their official release Friday, would shrink most Republican districts. It would shift much of the state's northernmost region into the coastal 2nd Congressional District seat currently held by Democratic Rep. Jared Huffman while including parts of northern Marin and Sonoma counties. Kiley's district would also shrink and encompass part of the greater Sacramento area, shift the bulk of voters to Republican Rep. Tom McClintock's district and remove a broad section of the eastern Sierra Nevada. Valadao's district would also shrink, as would that of Issa, who trumped his Democratic opponent in 2024 by almost 19 points to be reelected to his San Diego-area seat. According to a chart that leaked Thursday, all of those districts would shift from being 'safely' Republican to either lean Democrat, or be considered safe for any Democratic candidate if voters approve them in November. Calvert and Issa currently represent parts of Riverside and San Diego counties, and Valadao represents a Central Valley district. LaMalfa currently represents much of the north from Yuba City to the Oregon border. Kiley, arguably Newsom's arch rival within the state, currently represents much of the northern Sacramento suburbs, northern Sierra Nevada, and the Nevada border down to Death Valley. Solve the daily Crossword
