Obama defends Gavin Newsom's redistricting scheme to counteract 'gerrymandering' by Texas Republicans

Former President Barack Obama offered his support for the redistricting scheme in California in order to counteract what he called "gerrymandering" in Texas.

Republican redistricting could mean as many as five more seats for the GOP in the U.S. House for the midterm elections, which would drastically improve the party's odds of retaining power. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California has threatened to redistrict the left-leaning state to add more Democratic seats.

'I have tremendous respect for how Governor Newsom has approached this. He's put forward a smart, measured approach in California.'

"Over the long term, we shouldn't have political gerrymandering in America, just a fair fight between Republicans and Democrats based on who's got better ideas," Obama wrote on social media Wednesday.

"But since Texas is taking direction from a partisan White House and gerrymandering in the middle of a decade to try and maintain the House despite their unpopular policies, I have tremendous respect for how Governor Newsom has approached this," he continued. "He's put forward a smart, measured approach in California, designed to address a very particular problem at a very particular moment in time."

Texas Democrats tried to stop a vote on redistricting by fleeing the state so that a quorum could not be called in the legislature. That effort failed, as Democrats said they would return despite having no plan to stop the vote again.

"That is not my preference, but we cannot unilaterally allow one of the two major parties to rig the game," the former president said at a fundraiser for an organization headed by Eric Holder. "And California is one of the states that has the capacity to offset a large state like Texas."

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He went on to say that the California scheme was democratic in nature because it would need the direct approval of the voter, while the Texas scheme could be implemented through the vote of the state legislators only.

The California stratagem would only be implemented if Texas follows through with its redistricting.

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