A Maryland group aligned with Republican Gov. Larry Hogan is crying “hypocrisy” after Democrats in Washington moved to defend their new congressional map, allegedly gerrymandered to minimize GOP viability.
Fair Maps Maryland, operated by Hogan allies, sued to block implementation of the map of congressional districts that emerged from the decennial redistricting process in the Free State. The suit in a Maryland court, which complains the new House district lines were unconstitutionally gerrymandered to benefit the Democrats, is now being contested by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias.
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Their intervention has sparked charges of hypocrisy from Fair Maps Maryland. The group points out that Democrats have long claimed opposition to gerrymandering — drawing lines specifically to advantage one party or the other politically — on the grounds that it unfairly and unconstitutionally boosts Republican representation in Congress and state legislatures. But in Maryland, a majority-Democratic state, the DCCC and Elias appear content with the process.
“If hypocrisy has a face and a name, this is it,” Fair Maps Maryland spokesman Doug Mayer said in a statement. “Unlike the DCCC and their hired guns, Fair Maps Maryland has zero problems proclaiming that partisan gerrymandering is illegal, unethical, and immoral regardless of who is doing it or where it is occurring.”
Hogan is a rare Republican opponent of gerrymandering and opposed the new map of congressional seats approved by a Maryland Legislature that is overwhelmingly Democratic. His veto of the new boundaries was overridden.
Both before and after redistricting, critics say most of Maryland’s House districts were drawn to elect Democrats, befitting a state that is among the most liberal in the nation — despite Hogan’s success there. But after reapportionment, the 1st Congressional District held by Republican Rep. Andy Harris was transformed from reliably red to one that could be considered a swing seat under the right political circumstances.
The DCCC and Elias, both of whom have complained about Republican gerrymandering in states where the GOP controls the levers of power, nonetheless are lending their political muscle to the Maryland Legislature in its effort to defend itself against the suit brought by Fair Maps Maryland.
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“The existing Defendants are state officials who have an undeniable interest in defending the duly enacted laws of Maryland and conducting elections under those laws,” reads the motion defending the Maryland Legislature, filed by DCCC attorneys, including Elias, reported Maryland Matters, a media outlet that covers Annapolis. “Defendants do not share [our] interest in ensuring its members of Congress have an opportunity to compete in and win congressional elections in properly constituted districts.”
