Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Eric Holder: We're going to Republican states and we're bringing Obama with us

 
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Eric Holder: We're going to Republican states and we're bringing Obama with us

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WASHINGTON — Former president Barack Obama will join a national effort to address redistricting concerns, including traveling to red and swing states to help Democratic candidates campaigning on the issue, his former attorney general said.
“I expect that later this year, you will see him campaign," Eric Holder said of Obama. “He will be focused on the races that will matter for redistricting. “He has identified this as his chief political activity in his post presidency."
It would be part of the National Democratic Restricting Committee, a group led by Holder that was set up to address redistricting concerns across the country. The group's efforts come as Democrats and Republicans battle over the control of Congress and state legislatures in the midterms. Both parties have decried election maps as unconstitutional while simultaneously fighting over who will draw them in the future.
Holder, who spoke to reporters at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, said he briefed Obama on the group’s strategy earlier this week.
The effort will include supporting redistricting reform efforts in states, raising public awareness, launching legal challenges and helping elect Democratic candidates focused on “fair” redistricting.
Holder said the 2018 elections are vital to that effort.
"These are in some ways the first critical steps for putting in place people who will take power back from politicians and give it to the people," he said. “There’s a system now where politicians are picking their voters as opposed to citizens choosing who their representatives are going to be. And it’s a fundamental affront to our system of Democracy.”
Holder said redistricting is an issue he and Obama have talked about for months and even before Holder left the Justice Department in 2015.
The group will target states, including Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio. Several other states, including Pennsylvania and Texas, are on its watch list.
Holder said he will travel to states to help Democratic candidates and raise awareness about the impact of gerrymandering.
He said he also hopes to engage more young people and people of color about the long-term consequences of elections “so they’re organized and energized to get out and vote come November.”
 

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