Eric Holder helped gerrymander Virginia.
He did it so badly that Democrats would control 10 of 11 congressional seats in a state Trump lost by just six points.
Now he's telling Floridians that Ron DeSantis drawing new congressional maps is "not acceptable."
The Man Behind America's Most Brazen Double Standard
Six days before Holder lectured Florida Republicans about map-rigging, he was celebrating Virginia Democrats' approval of a redistricting plan that would hand his party 91 percent of that state's congressional seats.
Virginia is a purple state. Republicans represent roughly 45 to 48 percent of the electorate there.
And Holder's organization – the National Democratic Redistricting Committee – poured money into a referendum that would manufacture a 10-to-1 Democratic advantage in Congress.
https://twitter.com/EllyKayUSA/status/2048583417348976881?s=20
After Virginia passed, Holder declared it had stopped Donald Trump's "attempt to steal the 2026 midterms."
Then, six days later, he called Florida's potential redistricting "a blatant power grab."
The Florida map DeSantis is drawing would take Republicans from 20 of 28 seats to potentially 22 to 25.
That's a party already dominant in a state Trump carried by double digits.
Virginia's map flips a competitive state from 6-to-5 Democratic to 10-to-1 Democratic.
Holder thinks one of these is unacceptable.
You can guess which one.
DeSantis Is Playing the Same Game Holder Invented
Here is the context Holder left out of his Monday night call.
Trump launched this redistricting arms race last summer when he called on Republican-controlled states to redraw their maps for the midterms.
Texas moved first – adding five GOP-leaning seats.
Missouri and North Carolina followed. Democrats answered with California, then Virginia.
Every state is doing exactly what Holder built his organization to do for Democrats.
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2047779904524013864?s=20
Holder founded the National Democratic Redistricting Committee in 2017 specifically to exploit redistricting for partisan gain.
His words were "end gerrymandering," but the strategy was always about winning maps.
He recruited Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Terry McAuliffe as co-founders.
He spent nine years building the machine.
He celebrated California's gerrymander. He celebrated Virginia's gerrymander.
Now Florida Republicans are doing what Texas Republicans did – and suddenly the man who invented the modern redistricting arms race is shocked that someone aimed it back at him.
DeSantis Has Already Won the Legal Argument
Here's something Holder didn't mention.
The Florida Supreme Court already reviewed DeSantis's 2022 congressional map – the one Holder calls "a gerrymander on top of a gerrymander" – and upheld it as constitutional last summer.
Holder lost. In court. In Florida.
Now DeSantis is drawing new lines from the Governor's Office, just like 2022, and the Legislature will vote on whatever he sends them.
Democrats will immediately sue. But here's what they're not telling you about the timing.
Federal courts have a long-standing practice of not throwing out election maps right before an election – the logic being that last-minute chaos hurts voters more than a bad map does.
Democrats can file every lawsuit they want.
The maps almost certainly stay in place through November.
The legal battles play out in 2027, after the seats are already won.
DeSantis isn't just drawing maps. He's running out the clock.
And he knows it.
The Holder Principle: Rules for Thee
Holder built an entire organization dedicated to winning maps for his party.
He backed Virginia Democrats who tore up a bipartisan redistricting commission that a supermajority of Virginia voters had approved in 2020 – because Texas made them do it.
https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1955467506795135445?s=20
Now he's urging Floridians to pack committee rooms and make Republican legislators pay at the ballot box – because using the exact same playbook Holder invented is only acceptable when Holder's party does it.
He had the nerve to call DeSantis's effort "not acceptable."
DeSantis heard it and didn't blink.
"We are not going to be cowed by threats," he said Friday.
The man who spent nine years building the national redistricting machine for Democrats is now horrified that someone built one for Republicans.
Eric Holder doesn't have a gerrymandering problem. He has a losing problem.
And those are very different things.
Sources:
- NBC News, "Ron DeSantis and Florida Republicans prepare for next round of 2026 redistricting fight," April 26, 2026.
- Axios, "DeSantis plots end run of Florida law to create more GOP House seats," April 24, 2026.
- MultiState, "Florida Redistricting 2026: DeSantis Calls Special Session," April 6, 2026.
- CBS News, "Virginia voters approve new congressional map favoring Democrats," April 22, 2026.
- Ballotpedia, "Virginia Use of Legislative Congressional Redistricting Map Amendment (April 2026)," 2026.
- American Tribune, "Eric Holder defends Democratic redistricting in Virginia while accusing Republicans of rigging maps elsewhere," April 22, 2026.
