Former AG Holder: ‘Our democracy is under attack’

Former Attorney General Eric Holder is hoping to fight back against Republican redistricting, which he called an attack on democracy.

“If you look at gerrymandering, we have a system where politicans are picking their voters instead of citizens picking their representatives,” Holder told Rachel Maddow on her MSNBC show Monday.

“You look at the way in which voter suppression laws have been passed, we’re coming to be a country that’s inconsistent with our founding ideals, and the notion of one man one vote is really under attack,” he said.

Holder, who served as attorney general under President Obama, is the chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC), a group that focuses on redistricting.

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Holder called his group a “partisan attempt at good government,” saying he isn’t seeking to redistrict in favor of Democrats, but rather to make elections battles between ideas. New district lines will be drawn following the 2020 census.

He was critical of how Republicans worked to redraw electoral districts in 2011 following the 2010 census. The new districts have led to dysfunctional government, Holder said, adding that the dysfunction makes him optimistic there will be support for redistricting in the future.

“I think people have seen over the past decade what partisan gerrymandering on the Republican side has meant, where you have state legislatures that pass these crazy gun laws, these anti-choice laws, these voter suppression laws, and they’re not necessarily supported by people in those states,” Holder said.

The NDRC is partnering with a group tied to Organizing For Action, a progressive group formed out of former President Obama’s campaign, the organizations have announced. Obama has fundraised for the NDRC since leaving office, and the group reportedly had raised $10.8 million by the end of July.

In the same MSNBC interview, Holder was critical of Trump’s interactions with his attorney general and potential U.S. attorney candidates.

Holder also noted Trump’s public attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions, calling them “unprecedented.”

The president has lambasted Sessions on Twitter for recusing himself from the Justice Department’s Russia probe, which reportedly prompted the attorney general to, at one point, offer his resignation.

Holder expressed concern that it indicates Trump does not understand that Sessions has a responsibility to be independent and “enforce the laws.”