Obama Called Gerrymandering a Threat To Democracy. Now He Wants Virginia To Hand Democrats 10 of 11 Seats.

Barack Obama spent years telling the country that gerrymandering was destroying American democracy. He launched an entire initiative dedicated to fighting it. He recorded videos about it. He wrote about it on social media.

And now, with a critical vote just days away, he wants Virginians to approve one of the most aggressive gerrymanders in modern history.

Obama just released a video urging Virginia voters to approve a redistricting referendum on April 21 that would strip power from the state’s nonpartisan redistricting commission and hand it directly to the Democrat-controlled legislature. The projected result? A congressional map that gives Democrats 10 of Virginia’s 11 House seats. Republicans would be left with just one.

The New York Post highlighted how ABC News even ran Obama’s campaign video as a breaking news “exclusive,” drawing immediate backlash from journalists and commentators.

ABC News faces backlash for presenting Obama campaign ad as an ‘exclusive’ on redistricting measure https://t.co/TIZisxshHO pic.twitter.com/qs3zPzhsE4

— New York Post (@nypost) April 18, 2026

In his video, Obama urged voters to “push back against the Republicans trying to give themselves an unfair advantage in the midterms” and called the redistricting measure “a temporary step to level the playing field.”

Level the playing field? Virginia already has a 6-5 Democratic advantage in its congressional delegation. Turning that into 10-1 isn’t leveling anything. It’s a steamroller.

Fox News had more on the details:

If approved, the measure would transfer temporary redistricting power from Virginia’s current nonpartisan commission to the Democrat-controlled state legislature through the 2030 election cycle.

The redistricting could shift Virginia’s congressional delegation from a current 6-5 Democratic advantage to a 10-1 Democratic advantage, a gain of four seats for Democrats in the U.S. House.

Obama’s video was released by Virginians for Fair Elections, the Democrat-aligned group supporting the measure. Supporters have significantly outraised opponents, with House Majority Forward contributing roughly half of $40 million to the campaign.

$40 million pumped into a single state redistricting push. That should tell you everything you need to know about how badly Democrats want this.

Veteran journalist Mark Hemingway called out the media angle perfectly.

Why the hell does a major news network consider an extremely partisan campaign ad an “exclusive”? https://t.co/k3hM1Ru7hW

— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) April 17, 2026

It’s a fair question. When a former president records a campaign ad for one political party’s redistricting effort, and a major news network runs it as an “exclusive” news story, that’s not journalism. That’s a donation.

But the most damaging part of all this is Obama’s own track record.

CNN reported on how Obama’s own past statements are being used against him:

Having promoted nonpartisan redistricting in the past, Obama and other top Democrats now have to motivate voters to turn out for a special election to impose a gerrymander that could leave Republicans with just one out of 11 US House seats in the state.

A group urging Virginians to vote no has sent mailers featuring Obama’s image alongside a six-year-old quote saying, “For too long, gerrymandering has contributed to stalled progress and warped our representative government.”

Another past Obama quote states: “Because of things like political gerrymandering, our parties have moved further and further apart.”

Read those quotes one more time. Then read what Obama is pushing right now in Virginia. Same man. Completely opposite position.

This isn’t complicated. When your guy does it, it’s “restoring fairness.” When the other side does it, it’s “warping our representative government.” The only thing that changed is which party stands to benefit.

Former Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin reportedly called the measure “the most blatant seizure of individual rights that any of us have seen in the Commonwealth.” The Virginia GOP has called it an “unconstitutional gerrymandering power grab.”

Virginia voters will decide on April 21. Polls show the measure barely ahead, with a Washington Post/Schar School survey finding 52% in favor and 47% opposed. This is going to be close.

And somewhere out there, a six-year-old Obama quote about the dangers of gerrymandering is sitting on a mailer in a Virginia mailbox, staring right back at the man who wrote it.