When former President Barack Obama took to social media to denounce Texas Republicans for pursuing a mid-decade redistricting plan, his words struck a familiar partisan chord. “We can’t lose focus on what matters – right now, Republicans in Texas are trying to gerrymander district lines to unfairly win five seats in next year’s midterm elections. This is a power grab that undermines our democracy,” Obama declared.

The statement reflects the broader Democratic talking point that gerrymandering, particularly when carried out by Republicans, represents an existential threat to democracy itself. Yet the problem with Obama’s position is not simply one of rhetoric – it is one of historical practice. A closer look at his own political rise reveals that he once relied on gerrymandering to secure and protect his career in Illinois politics, and in doing so, undermined the very principle he now claims to champion.

In 2022, Obama proudly reminded his followers that three years earlier he had helped former Attorney General Eric Holder launch All On The Line, a campaign designed to “fight gerrymandering and advocate for fair redistricting.” He proclaimed the group’s guiding principle: “Voters should choose their representatives – not the other way around.”

But rewind two decades, and Obama’s own record tells a different story. After suffering a bruising defeat in a Democratic primary against Rep. Bobby Rush, a former Black Panther, Obama learned the hard way that his profile as a prep-school-educated, Harvard-trained lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School did not resonate with the majority of working-class black voters in Chicago. Rush painted him as an outsider, disconnected from the everyday struggles of the community.........

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