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Former Attorney General Eric Holder is as staunch and outspoken a supporter of fairly drawn congressional districts as anyone you’ll find in American politics, having launched an anti-gerrymandering organization — the National Democratic Redistricting Committee — back in 2017. But on Wednesday, after Texas Republicans revealed their Trump-endorsed plan to institute a racist gerrymander ahead of next year’s midterms, even Holder is joining calls for Democrats to take drastic steps to combat that effort.
Trump is dealing with political backlash to his unpopular economic agenda and his harsh and haphazard immigration policies, as well as growing scrutiny over his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his administration’s handling of the so-called Epstein files. Trump and his GOP allies have seemingly sought to insulate themselves from potential backlash by tilting next year’s elections in their favor. And the newly released Texas map — which would dilute Black and Latino voting power to help fulfill Trump’s demand for an additional five GOP-friendly districts — is the clearest example of that desperation.
On Tuesday, Holder threw his support behind the push for states under Democratic control to balance Texas’ gerrymandering by redrawing their districts, as well.
He said, via a statement from the NDRC:
Since the creation of NDRC in 2017, we have stood for fairness in the redistricting process and have opposed the use of partisan and racial gerrymanders — by all parties — designed to disenfranchise the American people. We are still committed to that ideal. In the long term the anti-democracy tactics that we have successfully fought against are inconsistent with responsive governance and deny our fellow citizens their most fundamental of rights. This is in tension with our founding documents and ideals.
The statement goes on to say that “our enduring commitment to fairness does not blind us to reality.” Holder called for a strategy that would “preserve our democracy now in order to ultimately heal it,” namely:
It is for this reason that we do not oppose — on a temporary basis — responsible responsive actions to ensure that the foundations of our democracy are not permanently eroded. Once this time has passed, measures at the federal and state levels must be put in place to outlaw the actions that have precipitated this crisis. Those who for partisan gain would subvert the precepts of our democracy must never be allowed again to threaten that which makes this nation exceptional.
Holder’s comments underscore the dire state of American democracy under the thumb of a Trump-led movement that appears dead set on undermining free and fair elections.
The former attorney general and Democratic officials from across the country, including North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs, told a forum hosted by Democratic senators on Wednesday that fair elections are in grave danger due a variety of factors, Democracy Docket reported. In addition to gerrymandering proposals like the one in Texas, they identified threats like the attempt to disqualify voters in Riggs’ race and the Trump administration’s demands to some states to hand over sensitive voter information.
Holder said the U.S. is “in a constitutional crisis, but it’s not game over” and went on to say Americans “still have power” and that if people participate in elections and other civic activities, “I think we can push back.”