John,

I was born in 1961. And over the course of my lifetime, our democracy got better. 

It became more fair, and more transparent. More people had a seat at the table, and we were able to start addressing more long-standing injustices. 

Because people were paying attention to the poor and the voiceless, we started passing legislation to make sure that our daughters had the same opportunities as our sons, and that people with different sexual orientations could live their lives freely. The lives of ordinary Americans improved in very concrete ways. 

I think we started believing that, with each successive decade, things would just keep getting better. They certainly weren’t going backwards. 

But that’s never been the case – not just in American history, but in human history. Progress does not move in a straight line.

Every step of the way, people who were afraid of having true democracy — who felt threatened by the efforts to ensure everybody has a voice and who realized the existing systems that privileged them might go away — have tried to constrain and even roll back our gains. 

We’re seeing it happen again right now. 

This White House and Republican-controlled state governments do not appear to believe in the idea of an inclusive, expansive democracy. They do not see a problem with a minority of Americans controlling the majority of legislatures, along with the White House and the courts. They’re willing to gerrymander districts for partisan gain and splinter communities to dilute their representation. And they’re not shy about saying so.  

This is not a bug to them, it’s a feature of the kind of so-called “democracy” they’d like to see in America.

Eric Holder and I launched the National Democratic Redistricting PAC to take on these anti-democratic forces — and to mobilize a response capable of stopping anyone who wants to take us backward. At this urgent moment for our country, I need to ask you directly: Can we count on you to support this cause with a donation right now?

As I write this, we’ve just seen Texas’s governor sign an extreme, racially gerrymandered map into law with the goal of silencing the voices of those who don’t agree with him. We’ve seen Missouri follow suit, attempting to squeeze out a long-time Democratic district in Kansas City. We know that extreme partisan legislators in Ohio and Indiana are considering similar power grabs.

I’ll be frank: We are being tested. How much do we care about the democratic ideals and principles that we fought for? If we care about them as deeply as we claim to, then we are going to have to step up. 

We’re going to have to support the NDR PAC. We will have to invest in the litigation and organizing work that the fair maps movement is doing across the country, fighting against maps that break the law and take away representation from communities of color. We will need to support the responsible and responsive work being done in California to ask voters to approve a temporary redraw of its congressional districts this November. 

Over the last half century, our democracy didn’t become better on its own. It took all of us fighting for it constantly, and continuously. And when we’ve come together, we’ve won. 

Every time you make a donation to the NDR PAC, you join forces with fellow supporters across the country who are helping to build a fairer, more just future for our democracy. I hope you’ll be with us every step of the way.

Thank you,

Barack Obama