Obama calls California’s redistricting plan ‘a responsible approach’

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Barack Obama waded into states’ efforts at rare mid-decade redistricting efforts, saying he agreed with California governor Gavin Newsom’s plan to counter the new Texas congressional map by launching an effort to redraw his own state’s map and create more Democratic-friendly districts, calling it “a responsible approach”.

“I believe that governor Newsom’s approach is a responsible approach. He said this is going to be responsible. We’re not going to try to completely maximize it,” Obama said at a Tuesday fundraiser on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. “We’re only going to do it if and when Texas and/or other Republican states begin to pull these maneuvers. Otherwise, this doesn’t go into effect.”

Obama also called Newsom’s strategy “measured”, as it only temporarily grants the California legislature the ability to redraw maps mid-decade.

While noting that “political gerrymandering” is not his “preference,” Obama said that, if Democrats “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”.

According to organizers, the event raised $2m for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee and its affiliates, one of which has filed and supported litigation in several states over Republican-drawn districts. The former House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Eric Holder, who served as Obama’s attorney general and heads up the group, also appeared.

The former president’s comments come as Texas lawmakers approved a plan to redraw the state’s congressional districts, passing a new map on Wednesday that fulfills Donald Trump’s desire to tilt the US House map in his favor before the 2026 midterm elections.

The vote was 88 in favor and 52 against.

The map could give Republicans five new House seats in 2026 and took more than two weeks to pass, after Democratic state lawmakers staged a walkout over what they described as a “a power grab”. Several legislators traveled to states run by Democrats, and the protest ultimately set the stage for a redistricting battle now playing out across the country.

Spurred on by the Texas situation, Democratic governors including Newsom have pondered ways to possibly strengthen their party’s position by way of redrawing US House district lines, five years out from the census count that typically leads into such procedures.

In California – where voters in 2010 gave the power to draw congressional maps to an independent commission, with the goal of making the process less partisan – Democrats have unveiled a proposal that could give that state’s dominant political party an additional five US House seats in a bid to win the fight to control Congress next year. If approved by voters in November, the blueprint could nearly erase Republican House members in the nation’s most populous state, with Democrats intending to win the party 48 of its 52 US House seats, up from 43.

Related: Barack Obama praises Texas Democrats’ fight as they signal return to state

A hearing over that measure devolved into a shouting match Tuesday as a Republican lawmaker clashed with Democrats, and a committee voted along party lines to advance the new congressional map. California Democrats do not need any Republican votes to move ahead, and legislators are expected to approve a proposed congressional map and declare a 4 November special election by Thursday to get required voter approval.

Newsom and Democratic leaders say they’ll ask voters to approve their new maps only for the next few elections, returning map-drawing power to the commission following the 2030 census – and only if a Republican state moves forward with new maps. Obama applauded that temporary timeline.

“And we’re going to do it in a temporary basis because we’re keeping our eye on where we want to be long term,” Obama said, referencing Newsom’s take on the California plan. “I think that approach is a smart, measured approach, designed to address a very particular problem in a very particular moment in time.”

The Associated Press contributed reporting

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