ICYMI: Eric Holder Calls for National Ban on Partisan Gerrymandering and Mid-Decade Redistricting

Washington, D.C. – This week, Eric H. Holder, Jr., the 82nd Attorney General of the United States and Chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC), was featured on an episode of The Atlantic’s podcast, The David Frum Show. During the conversation, Attorney General Holder and David Frum discussed several topics, including the threat of Republican voter suppression in the 2026 midterm election, the power citizens have to fight back this November, as well as the ongoing gerrymandering crisis and the need to enact a national ban on partisan gerrymandering and mid-decade redistricting to end the crisis.

Below is an excerpt from the conversation. The full interview is available here:

ATTORNEY GENERAL HOLDER: “The New York Times said—in the 2022 election—that Americans were going to vote on the fairest maps in a generation. We then saw the president try to go into a process by which there would be this partisan gerrymandering that has had a really negative impact on our ability to get that fairness. As you calculate all the things that Republicans have done, all the things that Democrats have done in this—what I call—race to the bottom, Republicans end up with, I think, about a five-seat advantage as a result of the mid-cycle gerrymandering that they have done this year. Now, you have to understand that when Steve Bannon first looked at that proposal that the President made, they were anticipating that they might get as many as 21 additional seats. But, as a result of what happened in California, the inability—as a result of popular discontent—South Carolina, Georgia were not able to do what they wanted to do. A court victory in Utah was something that helped Democrats. Republicans in Indiana refused to go along with what the President wanted to do. But after you boil that all down, you end up with about a five seat switch to the Republicans as a result of this inappropriate mid-cycle redistricting.”

DAVID FRUM: “Is there any way for the national political system to draw back from this kind of behavior to restore older ideas about how you do it once every 10 [years]? You do it in a year ending with a one once every 10 years. There are certain limits on how far you can go. Neither party pushes the extremist urges. Is there any way back? Or once you escalate, are you forever on a cycle of up escalation, up escalation, up escalation?”

ATTORNEY GENERAL HOLDER: “See, that’s a really good question and the answer is yes. There is a way to get back to a place where the nation has never been, but get to a place where the nation should be, and that is to simply ban partisan gerrymandering, and Congress can do that. Congress has the ability to determine the manner and means by which elections are held. And Congress could simply say we’re banning mid-cycle redistricting. We’re banning partisan gerrymandering. Specify in the statute exactly how courts might interpret whether or not a particular state is in fact engaging in gerrymandering. And my hope would be that if the House is taken by the Democrats, that is a bill that they will introduce. I don’t expect necessarily that Donald Trump would sign it, but if there is trifecta Democratic control after the 2028 presidential election, my hope would be that there would be a standalone bill that would simply ban partisan gerrymandering, ban mid-cycle redistricting, and get back to the way in which I think the founders intended, which was, as you say, have the census done in the year ending in zero, and then have redistricting done in the year after that. It’s entirely possible.”

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