On Tuesday, former President Barack Obama faced criticism on social media for his supportive comments about Virginia’s new congressional district map, which many see as a strategic gerrymander. Obama’s remarks came after the narrow voter approval of a redistricting plan poised to grant Democrats dominance in 10 of Virginia’s 11 congressional districts.

In a post on X, Obama expressed his congratulations to Virginia, stating, “Republicans are attempting to skew the midterm elections to their advantage, but they haven’t succeeded yet. Thank you for demonstrating what it means to defend our democracy and resist such efforts.” His comments followed the contentious approval of the redistricting plan.

Currently, Virginia’s congressional representation slightly favors Democrats at 6-5. However, the newly proposed map could dramatically alter this balance, projecting a 10-1 split in favor of Democrats.

Republican critics argue that the newly outlined districts, which extend from the Democratic stronghold of Northern Virginia, create an imbalanced and unrepresentative congressional delegation. They claim the district shapes are excessively distorted and favor one party disproportionately.

Former Trump administration official Tricia McLaughlin responded to Obama’s comments on X, criticizing the new map. She stated, “Labeling the act of disenfranchising millions and concentrating 45% of Virginians into one district, while the remaining 55% are distributed across 10, as ‘standing up for Democracy’ is misleading.”

“Disenfranchising millions of voters and forcing 45% of Virginians to be represented by 1 congressional district and 55% represented by 10 is now ‘standing up for Democracy,’” former Trump administration official Tricia McLaughlin wrote on X, in response to Obama’s post. 

“Is that ‘equity?’” she added. “What a farce.”

Conservative commentator Michael Knowles interpretively paraphrased Obama as saying: “‘Congratulations, Virginia, you just disenfranchised virtually every Republican at the congressional level — democracy!’” 

“Every time a democrat says they’re ‘fighting for democracy’ it really means that as soon as they take power again they’ll do everything they can to attack, imprison and permanently silence their opposition,” Turning Point USA contributor Savanah Hernandez argued. 

Former college basketball coach Bruce Pearl noted that “President Trump won 46% of the Vote in the State of Virginia” and “before this vote there were 6 Democrats and 5 Republicans representing the people in the house.” 

“To ‘restore fairness’ the Dems will now carry the state 10-1,” Pearl wrote in response to Obama. “This is certainly a victory for democrats but how is it fair?” 

Jeremy Redfern, the deputy chief of staff for Florida’s Republican Attorney General James Uthmeier, pointed out Obama’s apparent hypocrisy by sharing a 2020 tweet from the 44th president where he expressed staunch opposition to “partisan gerrymandering.” 

“Let’s guarantee that every citizen has equal representation in our government. And end partisan gerrymandering, so that all voters have the power to choose their politicians,” read the post from Obama, shared by Redfern. 

Meanwhile, former GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin thanked the Virginians who “turned out to vote against this egregious power grab.”

“The race was much closer than the left expected because Virginians know a 10-1 map is not Virginia,” Youngkin wrote on X.  

He added, “I urge the Virginia Supreme Court to rule against this unconstitutional process that will disenfranchise millions of Virginians.”