Obama Returns to Boost Eric Holder-Led Group Targeting Republicans in 12 States

The National Democratic Redistricting Committee raised $11 million in 2017 to challenge Republicans

Former president Barack Obama, who has maintained a low profile since leaving the White House, reemerged in a new video to garner support for a redistricting group led by former attorney general Eric Holder that is targeting Republican politicians in a dozen states across the country.

The National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC), a group headquartered in Washington, D.C., and chaired by Holder, emailed the video out on Wednesday. The NDRC seeks to enact a "comprehensive" strategy to impact the 2021 redistricting process by using electoral, legal, and ballot initiative components.

"In America, politicians shouldn't pick their voters. Voters are supposed to pick their politicians," Obama says in the video. "That's why I supported former attorney general Eric Holder in starting the National Democratic Redistricting Committee." The group argues that Republican-controlled legislatures have locked in "structural advantages" that would determine future elections.

"Of course, that's good for special interests—who want to protect tax breaks for the most powerful—or the gun lobby, or environmental polluters, but it's not good for our children," Obama says in the video.

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