Holder: 2018 vote crucial to combating gerrymandering

Former Attorney General Eric Holder said Monday that the 2018 midterms are crucial to his efforts to combat gerrymandering.

During a talk at Georgetown University, Holder said his group, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC), is “not shy” about its goal of electing more Democrats.

“The thought is to elect people in 2018 who will serve generally four-year terms. These are the people who will be at the table, come ’20, ’21, and who will be responsible for the redistricting that’s [coming] after the 2020 census,” Holder said.

{mosads}The former Obama administration official, who has not ruled out a 2020 presidential bid, says his organization does not promote gerrymandering for either party. Holder described their efforts as “a partisan attempt at good government,” but said “Republicans are not going to sit and give up power.”

As an example of that “good government,” he cited Ralph Northam’s victory in Virginia last year, and how it came with an assurance from the new Democratic governor not to sign any redistricting legislation unless it came from an independent commission.  

“I’m confident,” Holder said, “You give me a fair fight, I’ll have a Democratic Congress. I’ll have Democratic legislatures.”

Gerrymandered maps, like the one recently struck down in Pennsylvania, he said, are “really inconsistent with our founding documents, inconsistent with the Constitution, inconsistent with a variety of statutes.”

Holder, 67, said the NDRC needs to “raise the consciousness” of people and show them how gerrymandered districts “have an impact on their day-to-day lives.”

He cited gun control and “these weird choice laws” as examples of how politicians in “safe districts” are made “susceptible to special interests.”

“If you’re a Republican from a gerrymandered district, then you don’t have to worry about the fact that, for instance, 97 percent of the American people [are] wanting background checks when it comes to gun sales,” he said.

“At the end of the day, this is all about the American people getting to have their voices heard, their votes count, and their representatives reflect what their desires are,” Holder said.