Less than two weeks out of California’s special election, Barack Obama praised Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) redistricting campaign to push back against what the former president described as a “brazen” effort by Republicans to give their party an edge ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

Former President Barack Obama serves as the Democratic Party's campaign closer for 2025 elections, supporting California's Proposition 50 and gubernatorial nominees across states.

On Wednesday, former President Barack Obama joined California Gov. Gavin Newsom in a livestream for volunteers in support of Proposition 50, the governor’s redistricting measure, and the sole question on the ballot in the November 4 special election. As I reported last week in a story on the almost unprecedented spending around the measure:

Former President Barack Obama joined California Gov. Gavin Newsom to urge support for a controversial Democrat-led redistricting initiative that

Former President Barack Obama appears in a TV commercial supporting Gov. Gavin Newsom's proposed Prop 50 redistricting plan for California.

California's Proposition 50 ballot measure could determine House control as Barack Obama campaigns for redistricting changes ahead of the 2026 election.

Barack Obama framed the proposed constitutional amendment as a move to counter Donald Trump’s efforts to skew the 2026 midterm elections

Obama’s decision followed a series of private phone calls with his former attorney general, Eric Holder, who now heads the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. Both men had long campaigned for nonpartisan maps, but this time they concluded that sitting idle wasn’t an option.