A former executive director of the Department of Legislative Services warned a redistricting commission that if the state attempts to redraw boundaries of its eight congressional districts before 2030, it will end up in court.
“I won’t say I’m an expert, but I’ve been through a lot,”said Karl Aro, the former executive director of the Maryland Department of Legislative Services, who has been directly involved in “five rounds of redistricting.”
“I’ve seen a lot, and I have to say that I think that doing this midterm redistricting is a major mistake, very high risk for a lot of reasons,” said Aro, one of more than 40 people who testified during a virtual meeting Tuesday of the Governor’s Redistricting Advisory Commission.
It was the third meeting in a week for the fast-tracked commission, and the second at which it took public testimony. Gov. Wes Moore (D) created the five-member commission earlier this month and charged it with a “pressure test” of the state’s current congressional district map.
While Moore said the panel needs to consider whether the map is “fair” — a term he has not defined — it meets as other states engage in their own hyper-partisan midcycle redistricting, in an attempt to gain partisan advantage in the 2026 midterm electionss. Moore has also said Maryland and other blue states must keep pace or risk ceding congress to Republicans.
But if Moore was counting on an outpouring of support for redistricting at the commission hearings, that has not been present so far.
More than 100 people signed to speak at the first two hearings. A third virtual comment session is scheduled for Dec. 5. On Friday, testimony ran 2-1 against redistricting. Testimony Tuesday was nearly even, with a slim edge to those who called for redistricting. Nearly all testifying in favor were Democrats — many with ties to progressive advocacy groups or party organizations.
Many redistricting supporters cited what they described as an existential threat to democracy, as President Donald Trump encourages Republican states to draw new maps that reduce the number of Democrats in Congress in what could be a tough midterm election for Trump and his party.
“The wheels are coming off of our democracy,” said Michael Replogle, a Severna Park resident. “However, as Republicans have weaponized the process of gerrymandering across the country and created a process where nationally, the majority opinion of our national population of voters isn’t fairly represented in Congress. Maryland needs to counter those Republican gerrymanders by advancing our own efforts to protect our national democracy.”
Opponents mostly identified themselves as Republicans or unaffiliated voters.
Dona Sauerburger, an unaffiliated voter from Anne Arundel County, said a week does not go by when the president, in her opinion, “does something that is such a threat to democracy that sets my hair on fire.” But responding in kind should not be the response, she said.
“A redistricting plan whose purpose is to determine how many candidates of which party will be selected to represent the people before the people even have a chance to vote — That’s voter suppression,” she said. “It threatens our very democracy.
“And you know, just because the parties in some states choose to subvert the democratic process by suppressing their voters’ voices to rig the election in their favor does not mean that the way that we can defend democracy is to also suppress the voices of some of our citizens here in Maryland,” she said.
Some of those testifying Tuesday, like Aro, were veterans previous redistricting battles.
Aro was involved in 2021, whena a congressional map drawn buya legislative committee was struck down by Judge Lynne Battaglia, who called “extreme partisan gerrymandering” and who linked partisan map-making to potential violations of Maryland’s Declaration of Rights.
Aro said lawmakers then believed they had adhered to constitutional requirements. But Democratic lawmakers redrew the lines to get the map in use today, and appeals of Battaglia’s ruling were withdrawn before they could reach the Maryland Supreme Court. Her decision is not binding but some Democrats, including Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City), are not taking it for granted.
Registered Democratic voters make up a little more than half the state’s voters, compared to about 25% each for registered Republicans and unaffiliated voters. But Democrats hold seven of the state’s eight congressionak seats, with Rep. Andy Harris (R-1st) as the lone Republican.
Harris and his district are the clear — if unspoken — focus of efforts by Moore and other state Democrats anxious to stand up to Trump and hyper-partisan redistricting in Republican-controlled states.
Aro warned that the courts might not look favorably on a midcycle effort.
“I think if you eliminate the only remaining Republican congressional district, you’re going to find yourself in court with, again, extreme partisan gerrymandering, and I think, quite frankly, the state will lose,” he said.
The timing of the current effort will disrupt state and local election boards, he said.
“You’re going to create tremendous problems logistically for them,” Aro said. “You’re going to confuse voters, and you are probably going to anger a lot of independents, who already, from what I’ve heard this evening, are not very happy about things, and I think that that’s just going to exacerbate the situation.”
That was echoed by Diane Butler, one of two Republicans on the Maryland State Board of Elections.
“Our boards of elections work very hard at what they do at the local level and at the state level, but we have many strict deadlines, and they have to be met, some of which have already passed,” said Butler, who told the panel she was speaking as a private citizen and not as an elections board member.
“Redistricting now will negatively affect the local boards and the state board and their ability to give the citizens of Maryland the very best voting experience,” she said.
And a legal challenge is all but certain, Aro told the panel.
“I used to joke and say that the last step in redistricting was to go to court, because no matter what you do, you’re going to go to court,” he said. “And I think the timing of this is very bad.”
Del. Kathy Szeliga (R-Baltimore County) was the lead plaintiff in the 2021 map challenge struck down by Battaglia. She said she is preparing to go to court again if the state opts to move forward new out-of-cycle maps.
“The members of this redistricting commission can conclude that congressional redistricting midcycle is not a good idea,” Szeliga said. “You can oppose it, and I urge you to do that. Should you push through a map extinguishing Republicans, you can call it fair, but it would just be a power grab that flies in the face of democracy.
“If another gerrymandered partisan map is passed, we will see you in court and we will see you at the ballot box,” Szeliga warned.
Aro offered what he acknowledged as an unorthodox alternative to redistricting: He said the Democratic Party should “find somebody, a Republican, who is not MAGA” to challenge Harris, who is “full-on MAGA now, and those policies are very unpopular.”
“In fact, in my craziness, I think you should try to convince Larry Hogan to run in the 1st,” he said.
Hogan, the Republican two-term governor, lives in Davidsonville, outside the 1st District.
“You don’t have to be a resident of your congressional district to run it or represent it,” Aro said, adding Hogan is “very popular. He’s not a MAGA guy.”
For now, witnesses are testifying on the concept of redistricting. There is currently no redrawn map, although the chair of the redistricting commission, U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), said last week that she hoped to provide a map on which the public can comment.
Neither Alsobooks nor former Attorney General Brian Frosh attended Tuesday’s meeting.
“To me, this just says that this is clearly not a priority, nor should it be,” said Torrey Snow, a conservative social media personality and former radio show host.