Former President Barack Obama is promoting a Democratic effort to redraw congressional lines in Virginia, the latest front in a nationwide redistricting battle ahead of this year's midterm elections.
The announcement Thursday comes a day after the state Supreme Court allowed the redistricting question to go to voters for an April 21 election. Early voting begins Friday.
It's the second time Obama has agreed to stump for a Democratic effort that asks voters to temporarily set aside an independent redistricting process in favor of partisan maps as a way to counter President Donald Trump's push for congressional gerrymandering in Republican-controlled states. California voters approved a similar measure last fall as a counterpoint to Republicans' unusual mid-cycle redistricting that began in Texas.
In a video shared with The Associated Press ahead of its release, Obama asks Virginians to support the voter referendum on the redrawn maps. He said it will make sure "your voting power is not diminished by what Republicans are doing in other states.”
“This amendment gives you the power to level the playing field in the midterms this fall,” Obama says in the video, released by Virginians for Fair Elections. “And voters will have the final say over what the maps look like."
In February, Virginia Democrats released a new congressional map aimed at giving their party four more seats. The Democratic-led legislature passed the proposed map, and Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed the document into law.
The map goes into effect only if it’s backed by voters and the state Supreme Court.
And, Obama goes on to point out, it's a temporary construct, as was the measure put before California voters. After the next census in 2030, he notes, “Virginia will go back to a system that lets a bipartisan redistricting commission redraw the maps.”
The situation in Virginia has been evolving swiftly, and there are no guarantees the new map will take effect this year even if it's approved by voters.
Wednesday's ruling by the Virginia Supreme Court was the second time it has decided that the new map could go before voters while the justices review legal challenges to the effort. The court still has not ruled on whether the mid-decade redistricting plan and voter referendum are legal, indicating that the April vote could be all for nothing if it upholds a lower-court ruling blocking the effort.
Democratic lawmakers in Virginia have sought to portray their redistricting plan as a response to Trump’s push for Republican states to redraw their maps in an attempt to maintain a GOP majority in the House of Representatives. Republicans describe it as a way for liberals in northern Virginia to commandeer congressional districts in the rest of the state.
Virginia is currently represented in the U.S. House by six Democrats and five Republicans who ran in districts imposed by a court after a bipartisan legislative commission failed to agree on a map after the 2020 census.
Redistricting has evolved into a signature issue for Obama.
He has called attention to the issue since leaving office in 2017 and helped raise money for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee and its affiliates, one of which has filed and supported litigation in several states over GOP-drawn districts. That group is headed by Eric Holder, who served as Obama’s attorney general.
Obama was a vocal supporter of the Democratic redistricting ballot measure last year in California and appeared in ads supporting Proposition 50, which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld last month.
Speaking at an NDRC fundraiser at the time, Obama said partisan gerrymandering was not his “preference.” But, he added, if Democrats “don’t respond effectively, then this White House and Republican-controlled state governments all across the country, they will not stop, because they do not appear to believe in this idea of an inclusive, expansive democracy.”
Associated Press writer Olivia Diaz in Richmond, Va., contributed to this report.
FILE - The state and U.S. flags fly over the Virginia State Capitol at the start of the 2024 session of the Virginia General Assembly in Richmond, Va., on Jan. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
FILE - Former President Barack Obama speaks at the Obama Foundation Democracy Forum in Chicago, Dec. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley, File)
GALLE, Sri Lanka (AP) — An Iranian warship that was sunk by a U.S. submarine near Sri Lanka had participated in naval exercises hosted by India before heading out into international waters in the Indian Ocean on its way home, New Delhi said.
The sinking underscored the scope of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran and its spread in the Middle East and beyond. It also ignited a debate in India about maritime security in the Indian Ocean — a region where New Delhi maintains a significant naval presence.
On Wednesday, Sri Lanka's navy recovered 87 bodies and rescued 32 Iranian sailors from the IRIS Dena, which sank in international waters off the coast of the island nation — a rare instance of a submarine torpedoing a ship since World War II.
Sri Lanka’s navy said it had responded to a distress signal from the IRIS Dena, but by the time it reached the location, there was no sign of the ship, just patches of oil and sailors floating in the water. The rescued mariners were taken to a hospital in the town of Galle, on Sri Lanka’s southern coast.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the sinking illustrates the U.S.-Israeli military operation against Iran is stretching beyond its borders and described IRIS Dena as a “prize ship.” U.S. President Donald Trump has said one of the key objectives of the war is to wipe out Iran’s navy.
A video released by the U.S. Department of Defense on X showed the moment of the torpedo attack. The Iranian ship appears to be hit by an underwater explosion that causes it to break apart, as a large plume of water rises up in the air.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the U.S. Navy of committing an “an atrocity at sea” in sinking the frigate and said on social media on Thursday that the United States “will come to bitterly regret” the attack.
India’s navy and defense ministry said the Iranian warship had participated in the International Fleet Review and the multilateral naval exercise MILAN 2026, organized by the Indian navy in the port of Visakhapatnam from Feb. 15 to Feb. 25. The ministry said 74 countries had joined the events.
The Iranian warship was seen sailing at sea during the exercises in a Feb. 17 post on X by the Indian navy. Another image showed several of its crew members posing on deck with the Iranian flag in the background.
Araghchi stressed that the frigate had been “a guest" of India's navy. The Indian government has not yet publicly commented on the incident.
India has long viewed the Indian Ocean as central to its security, with its navy regularly conducting patrols and multinational exercises to safeguard key sea lanes used for global trade and energy shipments. It has also traditionally sought to maintain a careful diplomatic balance in tensions between the U.S. and Iran while emphasizing on diplomacy and talks.
Indian opposition leaders, however, on Thursday questioned the government’s lack of response to the incident, saying the sinking of the warship so close to India’s maritime neighborhood warranted an official statement.
The opposition Indian National Congress party slammed what it called “silence” from Prime Minister Narendra Modi 's government.
“The conflict has reached our backyard, with an Iranian warship sunk in the Indian Ocean. Yet the Prime Minister has said nothing,” opposition leader Rahul Gandhi wrote in a post on X.
Kanwal Sibal, a former diplomat who served as India’s foreign secretary from 2002 to 2003, wrote on X that India was “far from politically or militarily responsible for the U.S. attack,” but its “responsibility is at a moral and human plane.”
“The U.S. has ignored India’s sensitivities," Sibal said. "The ship was in these waters because of India’s invitation.”
Saaliq reported from New Delhi. Associated Press journalist Bharatha Mallawarachi in Colombo, Sri Lanka, contributed to this report.
Healthcare workers unload from a vehicle, the bodies of Iranian sailors who died when their IRIS Dena warship sank outside Sri Lanka's territorial waters, in Galle, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
Nurses exit the National Hospital, where the sailors rescued from IRIS Dena warship by Sri Lanka's navy are treated in Galle, Sri Lanka, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
Motorcycle mounted policemen patrol at the National Hospital where rescued Iranian sailors from the IRIS Dena warship by the Sri Lankan Navy are receiving treatment, in Galle, Sri Lanka, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
Iranian warship IRIS Dena is seen in the Bay of Bengal during International Fleet Review held at Visakhapatnam, India, Feb. 18, 2026. (AP Photo)
Healthcare workers unload from a vehicle, the bodies of Iranian sailors who died when their IRIS Dena warship sank outside Sri Lanka's territorial waters, in Galle, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
