Obama Endorses Newsom’s Redistricting Proposal as a ‘Responsible Approach’

Former President Barack Obama has offered his approval to Democrats’ mid-decade redistricting attempts, praising Gov. Gavin Newsom’s bid to reapportion California’s House districts as a “responsible approach.”

Speaking on Tuesday at a fund-raiser on Martha’s Vineyard, in Massachusetts, Mr. Obama said he had “tremendous respect” for Mr. Newsom’s decision to tie his efforts to substantially alter five districts held by Republicans to a similar, Republican-led redistricting plan in Texas, and for the governor’s insistence that he was reluctant to gerrymander his state.

“He said this is going to be responsible,” Mr. Obama said at the fund-raiser, referring to Mr. Newsom. “We’re not going to try to completely maximize it. We’re only going to do it if and when Texas and/or other Republican states begin to pull these maneuvers.”

He added, “I think that approach is a smart, measured approach, designed to address a very particular problem in a very particular moment in time.”

Mr. Newsom is seeking to circumvent his state’s independent redistricting commission by asking voters to approve a Democratic-drawn map this fall that would make it easier for Democrats to oust the five Republicans in next year’s midterm elections. His plan would be enacted only if Texas redraws its maps to imperil five Democratic House members there, which state Republicans have vowed to do.

The fund-raiser, which former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the attorney general under Mr. Obama, Eric H. Holder Jr., also attended, raised $2 million for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, a Democratic-aligned group that, in fact, works to fight gerrymandering. In this case, however, Mr. Obama suggested that because Texas was “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,” Democrats needed to respond in kind.

Mr. Obama said he’d had to “wrestle” with the issue, because he preferred states not to be gerrymandered.

“But what I also know,” he went on, “is that if we don’t respond effectively, then this White House and Republican-controlled state governments all across the country, they will not stop, because they do not appear to believe in this idea of an inclusive, expansive democracy.”

Mr. Newsom replied to Mr. Obama’s remarks on Wednesday, in a post on X. “Thank you President Obama for backing Proposition 50 and standing up for America’s democracy,” he wrote, referring to the proposed California ballot measure.

The redistricting efforts in Texas, which could take five House seats away from Democrats, have set off something of a gerrymandering arms race. Democratic governors in Illinois and New York are also considering redistricting efforts to offset the lost Texas seats. Republicans may seek to alter maps in Florida, Missouri and Indiana as well.

Mr. Newsom, long a foil to President Trump and a likely 2028 presidential candidate, has emerged as one of the faces of Democrats’ redistricting efforts, pushing Democrats in the California Legislature to fast-track the ballot measure — which he has nicknamed the Election Rigging Response Act — and leading efforts to raise up to $100 million to promote it to voters. Early polling has shown varying levels of support for the measure among voters.

Mr. Obama has been selective about his political statements this year, though he told donors last month that Democrats needed to “toughen up” in their efforts to combat Mr. Trump and his agenda.