Former Attorney General Eric Holder officially launched the Democrats' efforts to prepare for 2020 redistricting. | Getty Holder launches Democratic redistricting initiative

Former Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday officially launched the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, billing it in a speech to the Center for American Progress Action Fund as the center of Democratic rebuilding in the era of President-elect Donald Trump and as Democrats' main hope to roll back Republican gains in state legislatures and prepare for redistricting in 2020.

The end goal: House majorities in Congresses elected after 2020. But Holder cited the Virginia governor's race and the potential special legislative races in North Carolina as "priorities" toward that end happening in 2017. Those states will be two early battlefields where NDRC will try to ensure Democrats have a “rightful seat at the table during the 2020 redistricting process,” Holder said.


"We heard a lot in this past election about rigged systems, but I want to say the biggest rigged system in America is gerrymandering,” Holder said. “A system where the lines are drawn not to represent American communities, but benefit politicians. A system where politicians pick their voters.”

President Barack Obama will now take on a major role in the effort to rebuild the party’s presence in local offices with the NDRC, elevating its work from his post-presidency platform.

Holder detailed a three-point, “going into the states” strategy for the NDRC — tackling gerrymandering by investing in down-ballot Democratic candidates who will influence future redistricting legislation, arguing for reforms to existing maps in state and federal courts, and promoting ballot initiatives that would mandate new procedures for independent district drawing.

The top of the NRDC's priority list, Holder said, is simply winning state legislatures and governorships. Holder noted that three dozen upcoming gubernatorial races in 2017 and 2018 offer a direct path to affecting redistricting in many states. Holder also noted that other, less-noticed statewide officeholders, such as secretaries of state, are positioned to affect the redistricting process in certain states.

“Four of the nine House seats gained by Democrats this year were a result from new maps that came from redistricting cases in Florida and Virginia,” Holder said. “The NDRC is poised to seize on these early gains by advancing a very aggressive legal strategy.”

Democrats have suffered serious setbacks in nonfederal races across the country in recent years. In 2016, Republicans hold "trifectas" — majorities in the state House, Senate and the governor’s mansion — in 25 states, giving the party unfettered avenues to pass legislation in much of the country. Meanwhile, Democrats hold all levers of power in six states.

Losses in the 2010 election seriously hampered Democrats' ability to affect redistricting in many states, especially in the Midwest. House gains the GOP made in the 2010 election were solidified in 2011 and 2012 as friendly state legislators drew district boundaries to protect newly elected Republican members of Congress.

Holder acknowledged that the Democratic Party “lost track of our roots and didn't keep our eyes on the prize,” by emphasizing gains at the national level instead of in the states.

Holder also took a swipe at Republicans’ strategy to flood state legislatures with voting reforms, saying the GOP “realized that their governing philosophy is not a winning one, so because they can’t win the game, they’ve decided to change the rules.”

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Redistricting

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