Obama Endorses Newsom's Redistricting Proposal as a 'Responsible Approach' [View all]
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.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/20/us/politics/california-redistricting-newsom-obama.html
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