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Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi arrives at the DCCC headquarters in Washington, DC on Nov. 8, 2016. Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA, file

Holder met last week with donors and labor leaders in Washington, D.C., and was joined by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe for small sessions with top party fundraisers in five major cities over the past two months.

Wherever hes gone, Holder said, hes been surprised that people really understand how important this is.

The National Democratic Redistricting Committee, which first launched in January, brings together under one roof the official Democratic committees responsible for electing governors and legislatures, along with related super PACs and other relevant groups.

Unlike past efforts in either party, that centralization will allow the group to coordinate Democrats full slate of redistricting efforts from lawsuits, to electoral campaigns, to ballot measures designed to change the redistricting process, to the data-heavy art and science of the actual map drawing.

Having all of those tools in one place that is a major innovation. That has never been done before, said Kelly Ward, the NDRCs executive director, who left a similar role running the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to join the new group.

Both parties gerrymander, but Republicans have been better at it, thanks in part to well-timed wave election in 2010. A

We have to do this as Democrats because were at a major structural disadvantage right now. The Republicans broke the system and we have to go in and fix it, Ward told NBC News.

Ahead of next years midterm elections, the NDRC is focusing on states that happen to have key races and be some of the most gerrymandered in the country, including Virginia, Pennsylvania, Florida, Wisconsin, Ohio and Minnesota. It is a perfect storm in all the right places, said Ward.

One potential hurdle for the group is its own incumbent lawmakers, who like having safe districts where they win by comfortable margins, even if it might be better for the party as a whole if some of their voters were drawn into neighboring districts which could help elect more Democrats.

Thats been especially true in legally protected majority-minority districts, where a so-called

Holder, who calls fairer districts a civil rights issue, acknowledged it will take some persuasion with some.

But he said he thinks times are changing as Democrats grow frustrated with being out of power, pointing to examples like Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), who gave up some reliable voters in his district for the good of the party.

People in the House are tired of being ranking members they want to be chairmen. And this is the way in which we change their status, Holder said.

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Eric Holder Plans to 'Make Redistricting Sexy' - NBCNews.com