Obama and Holder Huddle to Mobilize Black Voters and Redraw Districts

On Monday, Eric Holder huddled withBarack Obama to strategize and chart a course toward turning states blue and bringing GOP-favored redistricting to a screeching halt. The battle over congressional maps begins in advance of the 2020 Census, which will collect the data used for reapportioning seats in Congress. Holder, Chair of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, told the NYT that the group was chiefly determined to deny Republicans so-called trifectas in state governments -- places where a single party controls the governorship and an entire legislature. This is the case in Ohio and Florida as well as other critical battlegrounds. “Success is if you break a trifecta,” Holder said. “I don’t think that in December of 2018, you measure success only by whether you have assumed control of a particular state.” States at the top of the just-finalized target list include traditional purple states such as Michigan and Wisconsin, where Republicans can currently design maps without Democratic input, and others -- including Colorado, Minnesota, and Nevada -- where Democrats have significant influence in government but must defend it in the 2018 elections. Both Holder and Obama will campaign heavily in these states with the goal of mobilizing a crucial voting bloc: African American voters. This will potentially inject a new ground swelling of support, both in terms of finances and engagement, in what may normally be low-profile elections. The group has raised more than $16 million out of a previously announced $30 million goal. More here.