Former President Barack Obama on Thursday sought to flip the script on accusations that he backs gerrymandering as he defended Democrats for launching retaliatory redistricting plans responding to Texas Republicans’ battle to redraw their state’s congressional map.

The Texas GOP attracted fierce backlash from Democrats in the state House when it recently announced an agenda seeking to boost Republicans’ majority in the U.S. House by up to five seats through redrawing district lines. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) was among Republicans who accused Democrats of hypocrisy with their reaction, saying that leaders in the party, among them Obama, have spearheaded their own gerrymandering efforts to benefit the Left. DeSantis has particularly gone after former Attorney General Eric Holder, who launched the Obama-backed National Democratic Redistricting Committee in 2016, seeking to give Democrats an opportunity to create more favorable district maps across 12 states after the 2020 census.

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However, Obama this week framed his stance as necessary to prevent “a systematic assault on democracy,” during a roughly 30-minute video call with Texas House Democrats and Holder, now the chairman of the NDRC. Moves by Democrats in California and elsewhere to redraw the congressional maps in favor of the party are a necessary last-ditch effort to “balance out the maps” in response to the “highly irregular” mid-decade “gerrymandering” from Texas Republicans, Obama argued during the Zoom meeting.

The former president contended that while he favors independent commissions or “neutral” approaches to drawing up districts, the actions of Texas Republicans have forced Democrats such as Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) into a corner where they are forced to respond with similar plans, an argument echoed by allies such as Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and the California governor.

“We can’t let a systematic assault on democracy just happen and stand by, and so because of your actions, because of your courage, what you’ve seen is California responding, other states looking at what they can do to offset this mid-decade gerrymandering,” Obama said, according to CNN.

“The problem that we’ve been seeing, not just recently, but this goes back a while, is that the Republicans increasingly recognize their ideas won’t sell, so we’ve got to fix the game a little bit, and by drawing maps that splinter Democratic voting blocs, by packing in Democrats into one district so that they don’t have influence in other districts,” Obama added. “My hope is that rather than have a race to the bottom where every district is predetermined based on how it’s drawn, that over time, the American people, ideally with the help of the courts, realize that there’s a better way.”

Texas House Minority Leader Gene Wu thanked Obama for meeting with lawmakers in a post on X.

​​“We are encouraged by your words and remain committed to fighting for democracy, in Texas & across the country,” Wu said.

Gerrymandering is a tactic commonly used by both sides of the aisle to boost margins of political power.

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In states such as Maryland, Illinois, and California, lawmakers have drawn up districts composed of voters more likely to vote for Democrats.

North Carolina, Texas, and Florida are among the states where Republicans have gained more dominance through partisan redistricting efforts.