Obama endorses Virginia redistricting effort to gain 4 House seats ahead of midterms

Former President Barack Obama on Thursday endorsed Democrats’ redistricting efforts in Virginia, which could give the party four additional seats in the House of Representatives.

Virginia is one of several states engaged in a national redistricting battle as the 2026 midterm elections approach. Obama has so far supported Democratic initiatives in California and now Virginia.

“Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of our democracy. But right now they are under attack,” Obama wrote on Thursday

“Several Republican-controlled states have redrawn the congressional map to give themselves an unfair advantage in the midterm elections. Virginia now has a chance to help level the playing field. If you live in the Commonwealth, early voting begins March 6 and Election Day is April 21. Vote YES,” he added.

Former President Barack Obama supported Virginia Democrats’ redistricting efforts. (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)

Obama urged Californians to support Gov. Gavin Newsom’s redistricting efforts late last year, arguing it was a “responsible” tactic in response to the Republican Party’s redistricting efforts in Texas.

His new support for redrawing congressional maps comes six years after he and former Attorney General Eric Holder launched All On The Line, a “grassroots movement to fight gerrymandering and advocate for a fair redistricting process.”

Obama also blasted gerrymandering during his final State of the Union address, during which he said the nation must “end the practice of drawing our congressional districts so that politicians can choose their voters, not the other way around.”

Virginia Republicans accuse ‘power grab’ as Democrat who supported redistricting for congressional nominations

The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday on a New York redistricting effort. (Valérie Plesch/photo alliance via Getty Images)

The battle for congressional districts has spread across the country, with President Donald Trump and top Democrats urging allied state legislatures to act.

The Supreme Court weighed in on the issue earlier this week, ruling in favor of a Republican representative from New York challenging a Democratic redistricting effort.

Faced with dissent from the court’s three liberal justices, the conservative majority ended a state court decision who had ordered New York’s redistricting commission to redraw the district held by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., which covers Staten Island and a small part of Brooklyn.

A judge had ruled that the district was drawn in a way that diluted the power of its black and Hispanic voters and instructed the state’s independent Redistricting Commission to draw a new map.

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“Today’s decision by the United States Supreme Court to keep New York’s 11th Congressional District intact helps restore public confidence in our justice system and proves that the challenge to our districts has always been without merit,” Malliotakis said in a statement Tuesday.

“The plaintiffs in this case attempted to manipulate our state’s courts to use race as a weapon to rig our elections,” she added. “It was wrong and, as today’s decision demonstrates, clearly unconstitutional.”

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