ANNAPOLIS, Mo. (AP) — Maryland Democrats have rejected an effort to redraw the state’s congressional maps to boost their party’s chances in the midterm elections, a blow to Gov. Wes Moore, who is putting his influence behind President Donald Trump’s efforts to derail his own redistricting campaign.
Due to internal disagreements in the party, the time for the resolution was officially over after the session of the State Legislature ended on Monday night. In the end, the Maryland Senate left the bill in a committee, with Democrats who control the respective chamber saying it could be overturned under judicial review.
The unusual mid-decade redistricting, which began last year when Trump encouraged Republican-controlled Texas to redraw their maps, is expected to continue next week. Republicans want to change congressional boundaries during a special legislative session in Florida, while Democrats are urging voters to approve a redistricting referendum in Virginia.
But Democrats won’t be willing to pick up seats in Maryland, where the proposed map would have made it easier for voters to oust the state’s only Republican member of the U.S. House.
Moore disagreed with another powerful Maryland Democrat on the plans
Moore, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, said he disagreed with state Senate President Bill Ferguson, another powerful Maryland Democrat, about “what it takes to be able to make sure we’re fighting back” against Trump.
“This is not a political game for me,” Moore said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I don’t see it as any kind of political talking point. I look at the fact that I think Donald Trump is actively trying to manipulate and change the rules around the November election because he knows he can’t win on his policies.”
Ferguson has said that redistricting could actually cost Democrats seats in Maryland because, in an inevitable legal battle, a court could order a new map that would be even less favorable to the party. He refused to budge despite pressure from Moore and U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Rev. at the National Action Network in New York on Thursday. Speaking to Al Sharpton, Moore complained that Trump was asking some states to redraw maps in favor of Republicans, while telling other states to “sit on their hands.”
“Don’t play with me,” Moore said. “And if the rest of the country is going to have this conversation about midterm redistricting, then so should Maryland and every other state. Because until it’s done nationally, we have to make sure that this election isn’t stolen in front of our faces so this pain is permanent.”
But when Moore named a panel in November that proposed a new map for Maryland, the governor couldn’t prevail on the heavily Democratic Maryland Senate to approve it.
While it was before the Democratic-controlled General Assembly, the governor told lawmakers in January that the state needed to counter what Trump called “political redlining” in other states at the cost of black representation in Congress.
Moore, who is the nation’s only serving black governor, compared Trump’s push for Republican-friendly redistricting to discriminatory housing practices, saying the president and his allies are “doing everything in their power to silence voices and try to eliminate black leadership — elected leadership —.”
Democrats outnumbered Republicans in Maryland 2-1, and in the state’s U.S. House delegation, Rep. Andy Harris already has a 7-1 lead with the lone GOP delegate.
The Maryland House passed legislation containing the new map in early February, but the measure drew opposition from Ferguson.
The senator pointed to a map adopted in 2021 that would have made it easier to flip Harris’ seat that was ruled unconstitutional by a judge who called it “the product of extreme partisan gerrymandering.” Maryland passed another map in 2022, and the parties dropped their legal battle.
Meanwhile, here’s a look at what’s happening in other states this month in mid-decade redistricting efforts:
Florida
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has scheduled a special session next week to draw new congressional districts for the Republican-dominated Legislature.
Currently, 20 of Florida’s 28 congressional seats are held by Republicans.
Florida’s congressional districts that have been redrawn in favor of Republicans could have major consequences for Trump’s plan to reshape districts in GOP-led states, giving Republicans a shot at winning more seats in the midterm elections and retaining control of the closely divided U.S. House.
Virginia
Early voting has begun next week in Virginia to vote on a constitutional amendment for a new congressional map.
After a cascade of redistricting efforts, Republicans believe they can win nine more US seats in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio, while Democrats believe they can win a total of six more seats in California and Utah. Virginia could give Democrats four more seats.
