National Democratic Redistricting Committee
National Democratic Redistricting Committee is "partners" with Organizing for Action, who changed their name to All On The Line.[1]
Mission
According to the National Democratic Redistricting Committee's (NDRC) Internal Revenue Service (IRS) filings, its mission is:
- "To build a comprehensive plan to favorably position Democrats for the redistricting process through 2022."[2]
From their website:[3]
- "The NDRC is targeting 12 states during the 2019-2020 election cycle, including 3 gubernatorial races, 13 state legislative chambers, and one down-ballot race."
The National Democratic Redistricting Committee is chaired by former Attorney General Eric Holder.[4]
The organization is similar to IMPAC 2000 and the Lone Star Project. Marc Elias, Chair of Perkins Coie serves as council of National Democratic Redistricting Committee.[5]
Marina Jenkins is Director of Litigation & Policy at National Democratic Redistricting Committee.
Background
- "The NDRC aims to position the Democratic Party favorably for redistricting following the 2020 census. According to Politico, the group formed to "coordinate campaign strategy, direct fundraising, organize ballot initiatives and put together legal challenges to state redistricting maps." The NDRC's website describes its work as "a four-part strategy focused on advancing legal action, mobilizing grassroots energy, supporting reforms, and winning targeted elections... As each piece comes together, our comprehensive approach to redistricting will ensure that we can achieve a fairer process and fairer maps."[6]
In a Politico article[7] titled "Obama, Holder to lead post-Trump redistricting campaign" dated October 17, 2016:
- "The new group, called the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, was developed in close consultation with the White House. President Barack Obama himself has now identified the group — which will coordinate campaign strategy, direct fundraising, organize ballot initiatives and put together legal challenges to state redistricting maps — as the main focus of his political activity once he leaves office."
- "Where he will be most politically engaged will be at the state legislative level, with an eye on redistricting after 2020,” said White House political director David Simas, who’s been briefing Obama on the group’s progress since it started coming together at the beginning of the summer.
- The group’s incorporation follows a pitch made to major donors in Philadelphia during the Democratic convention in July, led by Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy, along with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair Rep. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico. The group hasn’t filed any financial reports yet and isn’t releasing figures for money raised, but operatives say several organizations have donated initial funds in its early stages of fundraising."
National Democratic Redistricting Committee
Verbatim from the Washington Free Beacon in an articled titled "Swiss Billionaire Gave Millions to Eric Holder's Partisan Gerrymandering Group" dated May 6, 2021:[8]
- "A liberal Swiss billionaire known for meddling in U.S. elections has funneled millions of dollars to former attorney general Eric Holder's effort to redraw electoral maps in favor of Democrats, newly obtained documents reveal.
- The Berger Action Fund, the advocacy arm of Swiss megadonor Hansjorg Wyss's Wyss Foundation, passed $3 million to the National Redistricting Action Fund (NRAF) between 2018 and 2020. The NRAF is the 501(c)(4) lobbying arm of Holder’s National Democratic Redistricting Committee, a self-described "centralized hub for executing a comprehensive redistricting strategy" to give Democrats an edge in congressional races.
- Holder, who chairs the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, launched the group in 2017 with the goal of electing Democratic majorities in state legislatures in order to control the 2021-2022 redistricting process. While Holder has claimed his group wants to create "fair maps," the committee's stated goal in its IRS forms is "to build a comprehensive plan to favorably position Democrats for the redistricting process through 2022."
- Holder has repeatedly decried the influence of foreign money in U.S. politics, even comparing Russian interference in the 2016 election to Pearl Harbor and 9/11. In a 2017 Washington Post op-ed about starting the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, Holder wrote, "There is nothing more fundamental to the well-being of our nation than the right to cast a ballot in fair elections, free from foreign interference." And in October 2020 he told Bloomberg that "we need to be prepared" for foreign "attempts to interfere with our electoral system."
- Wyss's contributions reveal that the foreign billionaire supplied as much as 40 percent of the NRAF's total funding in 2017-2018 and 24 percent in 2018-2019, making him one of the largest donors to the organization in those years. Wyss is a Swiss citizen who stated that he does not hold permanent U.S. residency in 2014 and recently declined to tell the New York Times if he is an American citizen.
- In 2016, the Daily Caller reported that Wyss had made $41,000 in illegal contributions to Democratic political action committees in violation of the federal government's strict ban on foreign support for U.S. political campaigns. Wyss's substantial spending through his nonprofits, while legal, raises serious ethical concerns about the far-reaching impact of foreign "dark money" in American elections and redistricting processes.
- But Wyss has donated over $650 million since 2002 to environmentalist and left-wing groups through the Wyss Foundation. The New Venture Fund, a dark money nonprofit managed by the consulting firm Arabella Advisors, has received roughly $56.5 million from the Wyss Foundation since 2007.
- Wyss's Berger Action Fund has passed at least $12.4 million to Arabella’s Sixteen Thirty Fund since 2010. The donations help fund the group's Hub Project, a campaign run by veteran Democratic Party operatives to help liberal groups with messaging strategy. The Hub Project is credited with doing "remarkable damage" to former president Donald Trump's reputation among Wisconsin voters in the 2020 election and helping Democrats defeat Republicans on "health care, taxes and the economy" in the 2018 midterms.
- Wyss's groups have also supported Democratic-aligned nonprofits such as Priorities USA, the League of Conservation Voters, and Planned Parenthood Action Fund. The Wyss Foundation boasted it gave $1 million to leftist groups for "civic participation" just prior to the 2016 election.
- Wyss and the Wyss Foundation declined to comment to the Washington Free Beacon on his funding of partisan groups involved in U.S. elections, particularly as it concerns his opaque immigration status. The Berger Action Fund, which does not maintain a website, could not be reached for comment.
Obama's Gerrymandering History
Barack Obama's gerrymandering strategy was crucial to his in winning his Senate seat. From the New Yorker,[9]
- "In 1996, during his first run for office, in the Illinois State Senate, Obama defeated his former political mentor Alice Palmer by successfully challenging her nominating petitions and forcing her off the ballot, effectively ending her career. A few years later, Illinois Democrats, after toiling in the minority in the Senate, gerrymandered the state to produce a Democratic majority. While drafting the new political map, Obama helped redraw his own district northward to include some of Chicago’s wealthiest citizens, making the district a powerful financial and political base that he used to win his U.S. Senate seat, a few years later.
[...]
- "...Alice Palmer had used phony signatures to get on the ballot, and Obama’s challenge was perfectly legal. The Democrats’ gerrymandering of Illinois was routine and no more outrageous than what happens in most other states...."
Eric Holder Statement on Today’s Supreme Court Rulings
On June 27, 2019, Eric H Holder Jr wrote the following statement:[10]
- Washington, D.C. — Eric Holder, the 82nd Attorney General of the United States and Chair of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, released the following statement in response to the Supreme Court rulings on partisan gerrymandering and the citizenship question:
- “Today’s Supreme Court decision to allow partisan gerrymandering tears at the fabric of our democracy and puts the interests of the established few above the many. Taken together with Citizens United, which allows unlimited money in our electoral system, and Shelby County, which gutted the Voting Rights Act, this ruling means the Roberts Court has entered a new political Lochner era. History will not be kind in its assessment of the ways in which this court has undermined voting rights and core democratic principles in America.
- “As the census case moves back to the lower courts, there is no credible way to uphold the Trump Administration’s effort to add the citizenship question. The long record already established and the recently uncovered documents from Dr. Thomas Hofeller conclusively demonstrate that the Administration was lying about its intentions. The question simply cannot be allowed on the Census in 2020.”
Democratic Presidential Candidates Sign NDRC Pledge
On June 27 2019, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee tweeted:[11]
- "As the final night of the first Democratic presidential debate begins, we’re proud that every single candidate on the stage tonight (and last night) has signed our Fair Districts Pledge and committed to fight gerrymandering and support fair redistricting."
Partnering with OFA
From their website:[12]
- "In a critically powerful step in our fight for a more representative democracy and fair maps for every American, NDRC’s 501(c)(4) affiliate, the National Redistricting Action Fund (NRAF), and Organizing for Action (OFA) are combining forces to go all-in on the fight against gerrymandering. Incorporating OFA's grassroots network fully into our efforts is not only a natural extension of the work we’ve already done together, it is also a major step toward building the extensive grassroots capacity we will need to advocate for fairness during the redistricting process in 2021.
Organizing for Action has changed their name to All On The Line, described as "the grassroots movement to end gerrymandering and restore fairness to our elections and democracy ahead of 2021 redistricting."[13]
Obama: 'redistricting a top priority'
- As President Barack Obama said, "I’m making redistricting a top priority, because there is no issue it doesn’t touch.”
Democratic National Convention Pitch
"Democratic leaders, including Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy (D), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), pitched the idea of the NDRC to major donors at the Democratic National Convention in July 2016."[14]
Board of Directors and Leadership
Board of Directors and Leadership from their website:[15]
- Ali Lapp, House Majority PAC
- Hayley Dierker, Treasurer
- Noam Lee, Democratic Governors Association
- Jessica Post, Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee
- Greg Speed, America Votes Action Fund
- Kelly Ward serves as NDRC’s President.
- John Bisognano serves as NDRC’s Executive Director.
Other staff
Marc Elias was named as general counsel for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee in January 2019.[16]
Jolt connection
Jolt Texas March 20 209·
Former Attorney General Eric Holder is at Jolt’s Houston HQ to hear from Jolt Student Chapter members and community leaders about redistricting. He serves as chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee.
References
- ↑ Join accessed June 27 2019
- ↑ accessed June 27 2019
- ↑ Join accessed June 27 2019
- ↑ Join accessed June 27 2019
- ↑ Marc Elias Bio accessed June 27 2019
- ↑ National Democratic Redistricting Committee accessed June 27 2019
- ↑ Obama, Holder to lead post-Trump redistricting campaign (accessed August 15 2021)
- ↑ Swiss Billionaire Gave Millions to Eric Holder's Partisan Gerrymandering Group (accessed February 23, 2023)
- ↑ accessed June 27 2019
- ↑ Eric Holder Statement on Today’s Supreme Court Rulings accessed June 27 2019
- ↑ accessed June 27 2019
- ↑ Join accessed June 27 2019
- ↑ Twitter accessed June 27 2019
- ↑ National Democratic Redistricting Committee accessed June 27 2019
- ↑ Leadership accessed June 27 2019
- ↑ [https://freebeacon.com/politics/kamala-harris-stacks-presidential-campaign-with-hillary-clinton-alums/?utm_source=Freedom+Mail&utm_campaign=fb5b59762f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_01_22_10_12_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b5e6e0e9ea-fb5b59762f-45956325 Washington Free Beacon, Kamala Harris Stacks Presidential Campaign With Hillary Clinton Alums BY: Brent Scher and Joe Schoffstall January 22, 2019 1:55 pm]