Maryland lawmakers took a first step toward redrawing their congressional map during a special session on Tuesday, passing a constitutional amendment that could open the door for Democrats to pick up the only Republican seat in the state’s nine-member congressional delegation ahead of 2028.
Democrats in the Maryland General Assembly pushed through a constitutional amendment in both chambers that is aimed at shielding a possible redistricting effort from potential litigation. If approved by voters in November, the constitutional amendment would set a different standard for how the state draws its congressional districts compared with its assembly districts.
“We have seen how the federal government has told Republican states that they should do mid-decade redistricting but told Democratic states to sit on our hands,” Democratic Gov. Wes Moore said at a Monday press conference ahead of the legislative special session. “We have seen how the Voting Rights Act has fallen, which we predicted would happen at the start of this year. So we are back now to be able to ensure that our elections should be in the hands of the people of Maryland. They should have the final say.”
When Democrats attempted to redraw Maryland’s lines in 2022, a Maryland state court struck down the maps, calling the proposed maps a “product of extreme partisan gerrymandering.” State Senate President Bill Ferguson has repeatedly cited the 2022 decision as evidence that any redistricting effort would not withstand a legal challenge. The new bill aims to clarify that the requirements set by the 2022 ruling only apply to General Assembly seats, making it easier to pass a congressional gerrymander.
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“This decision put Maryland in a very different position than many other states in this union and unless we address this uncertainty first, any other action would jeopardize our state’s current map,” Ferguson said of the 2022 ruling at a press conference on Monday before the session began.
Ferguson, who had been vocally opposed to redistricting in his state for months, pointed to the Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais ruling as the ultimate driving force that led him to call for legislative action.
“A legal earthquake changed the landscape this spring when the Supreme Court of the United States, under Callais, eviscerated the very purpose and function of our Voting Rights Act,” Ferguson continued. “Even worse, we saw states like Tennessee, Louisiana and South Carolina act with haste to attempt to eliminate majority-minority congressional districts. These acts changed the calculus and that’s why we’re here.”
Maryland is the latest Democrat-led state to consider redistricting ahead of 2028 after a whirlwind year of redistricting that began last summer when President Donald Trump called on GOP lawmakers to redraw their maps to favor Republicans ahead of this year’s midterms and intensified following the Supreme Court’s April decision.
The only Democratic state that successfully redistricted was California, netting up to five seats after voters approved a ballot measure on the issue last November. The New York State Assembly advanced a constitutional amendment in June that opened up the possibility for Democrats to gain up to four House seats in 2028.
Conversations have swirled around redistricting in Maryland for months, with many Democrats urging the state to redraw their lines to oust the lone Republican representative in the seat, Rep. Andy Harris, the chair of the House Freedom Caucus who currently represents the Eastern Shore. In November, Moore created a Redistricting Advisory Commission, chaired by U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Maryland), which ultimately recommended a redrawn map in January. The state House of Delegates approved the map, but Ferguson never brought the measure to the state Senate floor during the regular session.
NOTUS reported that Ferguson had begun talking with allies about how to move forward with redistricting after the Supreme Court decision, ultimately calling this summer’s special legislative session with House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk to consider the redistricting amendment.
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