Former President Barack Obama delivered a harrowing message to voters in a brand new advert geared toward President Donald Trump and the Republican Get together for his or her efforts to redraw congressional maps of their favor.
Following the controversial passage of a brand new map in Texas, which provides Republicans a five-seat benefit demanded by Trump forward of the 2026 midterm elections, Obama says, “Republicans need to steal sufficient seats in Congress to rig the subsequent election and wield unchecked energy for 2 extra years.”
The advert comes from “Sure on 50,” a marketing campaign in assist of Proposition 50, a proposed California legislation on the poll for voters on Nov. 4. The poll initiative would enable the state legislature to redraw its congressional map to counter Republicans’ efforts to maintain the bulk in Congress and additional execute the MAGA agenda of President Trump.
Democrats have vowed to function a verify and stability on the Trump administration in the event that they have been to win again management of both chamber of Congress, together with launching investigations into mass layoffs, deportations and main cuts to federal applications and companies.
“California, the entire nation is relying on you,” mentioned President Obama, who warned that “Democracy is on the poll November 4.”
He defined, “With Prop 50, you’ll be able to cease Republicans of their tracks. Prop 50 places our elections again on a degree enjoying subject, preserves impartial redistricting over the long run and lets the folks resolve.”
Obama’s endorsement of Prop 50 comes as America’s first Black president has turn out to be more and more vocal in opposition to Trump’s insurance policies and actions in Washington, D.C.
Obama lately slammed Trump for deploying the Nationwide Guard to American cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Memphis–all of that are led by Black mayors.
“When you’ve a navy that may direct pressure in opposition to their very own folks, that’s inherently corrupting,” America’s first Black president mentioned on Marc Maron’s “WTF” podcast, accusing his successor of politicizing the navy.
“I suppose there is no doubt that a lot of the norms, civic habits, expectations, [and] institutional guardrails that we had — that we took for granted — for our democracy have been weakened intentionally,” mentioned the previous president.
The difficulty of redistricting congressional maps has turn out to be a serious level of rivalry between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats accuse Republicans of doing the bidding of Trump and disenfranchising voters in an try to preserve energy, significantly as Trump’s immigration and financial insurance policies stay unpopular with voters, in line with nationwide polls.
In Texas, Republicans are combating a number of lawsuits that accuse them of racial discrimination. Districts with majority Black and Latino voters–who extra historically vote for Democrats–have been sliced and packed into different surrounding districts, giving Republicans clear benefits. Plaintiffs say the brand new map in Texas is a violation of Part 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which was established to guard the voting rights of Black and minority voters.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Courtroom will hear a redistricting case in Louisiana that can decide whether or not a second majority-Black district is discriminatory in opposition to white voters. It additionally threatens to all however kill the Voting Rights Act, which was handed into legislation in 1965.
“This case implicates not simply the Voting Rights Act, however anti-discrimination statutes, extra broadly, when it comes to whether or not we’re allowed to look severely on the concern of race on this nation in making an attempt to treatment the harms that discrimination causes,” Megan Keegan, a workers lawyer for ACLU’s Voting Rights Challenge, advised theGrio.
Noting that the VRA has been used for many years to protect “alternative districts” for Black voters, Keegan added, “With out that form of a statue the place we’re holding states to the promise of equal and truthful illustration, there isn’t any cause to consider that these sorts of alternative districts will live on with out the Voting Rights Act and and all that it does to assist preserve them obtainable.”
![‘They [taught] me to be strong’: D’Angelo and Angie Stone’s son honors his late parents](https://thegrio.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Untitled-design-2025-10-14T165117.100.png "‘They [taught] me to be strong’: D’Angelo and Angie Stone’s son honors his late parents")
