Eric Holder, Scott Walker spar over gerrymandering: ‘Scotty doesn’t like’ the facts

Former Attorney General Eric Holder and former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) engaged in a heated Twitter exchange over gerrymandering, an issue Holder has taken on since leaving the Obama administration. 

Walker, who was unseated last year, accused Holder and his National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC) of trying to “gerrymander Democrats into permanent control” on Thursday.

The former governor last week implied that the group was not aiming to fight gerrymandering but rather help Democrats. 

As we said, @EricHolder doesn’t want the public to know the real mission of his organization – to gerrymander Democrats into permanent control. https://t.co/aQqmyL9Auz

— Scott Walker (@ScottWalker) August 29, 2019 

If anyone tells you that @EricHolder is “fighting against gerrymandering” and for “fair maps,” just look at the form his organization filed with the IRS. The truth: their mission is to “FAVORABLY POSITION DEMOCRATS FOR THE REDISTRICTING PROCESS.” pic.twitter.com/1f6J2SnIlX

— Scott Walker (@ScottWalker) August 22, 2019

Holder chairs the NDRC, which aims to shift “the redistricting power, creating fair districts where Democrats can compete,” according to its website. {mosads}

The former Obama administration official pushed back on Walker’s Thursday assertion, accusing Walker of “his own efforts to gerrymander for R’s”

“This is so contrary to the facts -things Scotty doesn’t like- and his own efforts to gerrymander for R’s that it’s laughable,” he wrote, noting Walker’s recent opposition to an independent redistricting commission in New Hampshire.  

This is so contrary to the facts -things Scotty doesn’t like- and his own efforts to gerrymander for R’s that it’s laughable. The big lie. Challenge: Say-like me-you will support non-partisan commissions to draw the lines. Politicians not in control. (He didn’t in New Hampshire.) https://t.co/jOscvmxuAi

— Eric Holder (@EricHolder) August 29, 2019

The exchange follows an announcement by former President Obama this week about his participation in an organizing initiative linked to the NDRC, which Walker also criticized on Twitter. The initiative would train volunteers to impact their states’ redistricting processes, according to its web page. 

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) earlier this month vetoed legislation that would create an independent redistricting commission to delineate the state’s legislative, congressional and executive council district maps after the 2020 election. 

Walker wrote an op-ed in the Concord Monitor last week in support of Sununu’s veto, arguing that the governor acted to uphold the state’s constitution. 

Holder and Walker have previously sparred over gerrymandering. Holder slammed Walker in June over gerrymandering in Wisconsin after Walker said that Democrats were spending “millions” to combat policies passed during his tenure as governor. 

Walker in 2018 lost his reelection bid to current Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D).