Former President Barack Obama said Texas has a partisan gerrymandering problem during an event in the Lone Star State.
The 44th president called Texas a “champion of gerrymandering” during a conversation with former Secretary of State James Baker III at a gala celebration at Rice University.
The Houston Chronicle reported that Obama expressed support for independent redistricting commissions. The current process, he said, is one in which “the elected official chooses the voters rather than the other way around.”
Multiple studies rank Texas in the top 10 most gerrymandered states in the nation.
Obama’s complaint about the deep-red state has been uttered by other Democrats, including Rep. Beto O’Rourke, who during his 2018 Senate campaign said, “Texas is one of the most gerrymandered states in the union.”
