Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD) announced on Tuesday that he is “immediately” launching a panel seeking to advance his redistricting agenda, despite warnings from leading state Democrats that the move could pose a “catastrophic” risk to the Democratic Party.
Moore defended his decision to create the Governor’s Redistricting Advisory Commission this week, arguing it is warranted to offset similar Republican-led redistricting efforts in other states, such as Texas and North Carolina.
“President Donald Trump and his allies are trying to rig the system and are hand-picking Republican states to go through redistricting processes,” Moore said, days after suggesting he is open to calling a special session to boost gerrymandering efforts. “While other states are taking their cue from Donald Trump to rig the system, Maryland is doing the opposite, and that’s why today I am announcing the governor’s redistricting Advisory Commission.”
Moore said the commission will be composed of bipartisan leaders in the state who will hold public hearings on the matter, “listening to Marylanders directly and taking a hard, honest look at our congressional maps.”
However, while Democratic House Speaker Adrienne Jones has said she’s ready to move on redistricting, other state Democrats, led by Bill Ferguson, president of the Maryland Senate, have expressed sweeping doubts about engaging in the effort.
Ferguson said after holding discussions with his caucus, the Maryland Senate would block Jones and Moore’s work to redraw the maps during a recent interview with the Washington Post.
“If one seat is the difference between whether or not we are standing up to Donald Trump, then we’ve lost from the beginning,” he said. “People are scared and angry, and upset, and feel like the world is not working for them. Our job as Democrats is to deliver for them. … If we show them a path to prosperity, we win.”
Redrawing the state’s political maps would only net Democrats one seat, if any, and would likely face legal challenges due to concerns about gerrymandering, which occurred in 2022, Ferguson wrote in a letter to colleagues last week.
National Democrats, including Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), swiftly denounced Ferguson for blocking the redistricting agenda.
But Ferguson argued that “despite deeply shared frustrations about the state of our country,” rare mid-cycle redistricting “presents a reality where the legal risks are too high, the timeline for action is dangerous, the downside risk to Democrats is catastrophic, and the certainty of our existing map would be undermined.”
“Instead of being subsumed by redistricting, we should focus on policies that will tangibly improve the lives of Marylanders in the face of this federal onslaught and demonstrate the power of states in checking a lawless president,” he wrote.
Moore’s new Redistricting Advisory Commission will be made up of five members, including Moore, Jones, Democratic Senator Angela Alsobrooks, who will chair the panel, former Democratic Attorney General Brian Frosh, and Cumberland Mayor Ray Morriss.
Ferguson will also be part of the commission, according to Politico.
In a statement on the matter, the Democratic state senate leader suggested the commission’s public hearings on redistricting would “provide an opportunity” to carry his concerns about gerrymandering to residents.
DEMOCRATS TRY TO KEEP UP WITH REPUBLICANS IN NATIONAL REDISTRICTING WAR
“These public meetings will provide an opportunity for voters to hear about the unique legal barriers in Maryland – barriers that could unintentionally give Donald Trump another one or two of Maryland’s congressional seats should this effort backfire in our courts,” Ferguson said in a post to X.
“The Senate Democratic Caucus understands that this is an unbalanced risk-reward calculation. It is why there is overwhelming concern about Maryland joining the mid-cycle redistricting wars rather than focusing on tangible, immediate policies to protect our State from this lawless Trump Administration,” he added.
