Top Maryland Democrats this week restarted talks about possibly redrawing the state’s congressional map after recent court rulings have given Republicans an edge on redistricting in Southern states.
Maryland state Senate President Bill Ferguson, a Democrat who opposed a push to redraw the state’s map last year, is talking to allies about a path forward on possible redistricting, multiple sources told NOTUS. David Schulein, a spokesman for Ferguson, said in a statement that the state Senate president “relayed that he was open to a conversation about next steps but needed to discuss them with Senate leadership, as well as rank and file members of the Senate Democratic Caucus.”
“He also noted the need to consult with the attorney general about the legal realities after the Supreme Court’s” ruling, Schulein said. “He is as outraged as the governor about what is happening in the country and understands that the stakes are even higher.”
The new interest comes just hours after House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar said at his weekly press conference Wednesday that the party is increasingly focused on 2028 redistricting — save for Maryland.
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“I think that there might be only one [state] that theoretically could do it, if every star aligned in Maryland,” he said.
Top Maryland lawmakers appear more open to the idea than they were last year when state leaders declined to act amid concern over legal challenges. The emerging effort would aim to oust the state’s lone Republican, Rep. Andy Harris, by eliminating his mostly rural district on the state’s Eastern Shore.
The possible change comes after a recent Supreme Court ruling on the Voting Rights Act rejected districts drawn to boost minority representation and the Virginia Supreme Court rejected a plan to redraw maps there to favor Democrats.
There remains skepticism that the Maryland redraw could be done in time to be on the ballot this November.
“I lived during segregation,” Rep. Glenn Ivey, a Democrat in the delegation, told NOTUS. “We should have done it before. It’s not too late to do it now. If you look at what [Republicans] are doing in Louisiana, some of these other states, canceling primaries, canceling of elections, it’s pretty dramatic.”
Harris, the chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, slammed the potential effort in a statement.
“I understand that the Governor’s presidential ambitions and Hakeem Jeffries’ hope for ascendancy are driving this renewed interest in a new attempt at partisan gerrymandering, but more pragmatic heads should prevail,” said Harris adding the move would force legal challenges.
Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland told NOTUS the state should act. “I’ve made it clear from the beginning that we have to do everything in our power to counter the intense and lawless gerrymandering of the Republican Party, he said.
Maryland Democrats Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks also told NOTUS they, too, support redrawing the lines ahead of November.
Other top state-level Democrats this week signaled they were ready to jump into the redistricting fight. New Jersey state Senate President Nick Scutari said at an event in the state Tuesday night that he is “taking a real hard look at the possibility of redistricting.”
“It’s time for New Jersey to not be on the sidelines but join the fight to make sure that there is a fair fight come November for the Democrats,” Scutari said. New Jersey’s congressional delegation right now includes nine Democrats and three Republicans
Congressional Black Democrats are seeing their ranks targeted by state delegations in Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas and North Carolina.
In South Carolina, the GOP-led state Senate rejected a measure Tuesday to redraw the state’s congressional map — but President Donald Trump is still applying pressure.
“There is a comprehensive approach on the part of this administration to turn the clock back to what I call Jim Crow 2.0, that’s what this is,” Rep. Jim Clyburn, who is the sole Democrat in the South Carolina delegation, told reporters Tuesday evening.
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