House leaders are fast-tracking legislation to redraw the state’s eight congressional districts, drawing sharp criticism from Republicans who stand to lose the only seat the party holds in Maryland in the process.
The House on Friday introduced House Bill 488, a 40-page bill redrawing the state’s congressional districts for 2026 and then asking voters to approve a constitutional amendment that would keep the new districts for the 2028 and 2030 elections.
The bill is scheduled to be heard Monday afternoon by the House Rules Committee and could be back before the full House by the middle of the week.
The introduction of the bill comes just three days after a five-member gubernatorial advisory committee voted 3-2 to recommend a congressional redistricting plan that would heavily redraw the Eastern Shore-based 1st District.
Republicans Friday were quick to challenge the process and express concerns the public did not have enough time to participate in a hearing. They also expressed concerns about how Monday’s hearing would be impacted by the impending snowstorm.
“It is disappointing, and frankly unfair, that the House will be shoving this legislation on an accelerated timeline that provides no real opportunity for public input,” said House Minority Leader Jason Buckel (R-Allegany), adding that a snowstorm could make it impossible to get to Annapolis to testify or knock out power, making virtual participation impossible as well.
“Moving this bill through so quickly in the middle of a giant weather event is a clear message that the Democratic majority has no interest in what the people think,” Buckel said.
HB 488 is sponsored by Del. C.T. Wilson (D-Charles), who was a member of the Governor’s Redistricting Advisory Commission, and is based on a “concept map” approved by the commission.
House Rules and Executive Nominations Chair Anne Healey (D-Prince George’s) said the committee will meet virtually in light of the winter storm that led Gov. Wes Moore (D) to declare a state of emergency Friday.
The conservative, seven-member House Freedom Caucus, called the governor’s redistricting commission “a sham” process in a statement Friday.
“No Kings? Gov. Wes Moore is ramming through an unconstitutional congressional map to eliminate all Republican representation in D.C.,” said Del. Kathy Szeliga (R-Baltimore County), the vice chair of the caucus. “This is a rigged process.”
It’s possible the bill clears the House by midweek and is in the Senate’s hands by next Friday. But it faces a much tougher fight there, where opponents, including Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City), have vowed it will not come up for a vote.
Ferguson, who also served on the governor’s redistricting panel, opposes mid-cycle redistricting, saying such a move could reopen a lawsuit that resulted in the current map. He also said the risk of losing additional seats to Republicans would be the more likely outcome.
Ferguson has become the focus of ire from Democrats nationally who want Maryland to join the hyperpartisan redistricting battle and draw a map that would elect eight Democrats rather than the current 7-1 split.
Moore and U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) spoke to reporters in Washington Thursday night, when both said a full vote in the Maryland Senate should not be held up by one person.
“I believe in democracy,” Moore said.”I believe in letting the people’s voices be heard and I know Senate President Ferguson does as well. I know President Ferguson doesn’t want to stand there and say, ‘No vote.’”
When asked to respond Friday, Ferguson told reporters, “I appreciate their thoughts and advice.” But he said there are other issues voters are more worried about.
“The world is uncertain, the world is crazy, and we have a limited amount of time and energy and focus, and we have to put it where it matters most,” Ferguson said.
“We’ve got to close a $1.4 billion budget shortfall. We’ve got to focus on affordability. We’ve got to find a way to grow our economy, and we’ve got to pass policies that truly and actually protect Marylanders against the Trump administration,” he said.
Ferguson appears to have the support of his caucus which holds a supermajority in the Senate. The Senate leader has said in the past that his chamber does not take up bills which his caucus does not support.
Ferguson and Cumberland Mayor Ray Morriss, a Republican, were the two advisory commission members who voted against recommending that a redistricting plan move forward.
The conceptual map the commission approved makes changes to all eight congressional districts, but it makes the most-severe changes to the 1st District — held by the state’s lone Republican member, Rep. Andy Harris.
Currently, the district includes the entire Eastern Shore before stretching into Cecil and Harford counties and part of eastern Baltimore County. The new map would recast the district by cutting off part of the upper Shore and instead push the district across the Chesapeake Bay into Anne Arundel County, where it would stretch north and west into Howard County to include a portion of Columbia.
The changes increase the number of liberal Democrats in the district. The change, in theory, would make it harder for a conservative Republican like Harris, the chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, to retain the seat.
The concept map had problems: None of the eight districts in the concept would have passed judicial review. Population has to be as close to equal as possible in each of the eight districts to meet the “one person, one vote” standard, but the map as drawn varied by more than 1,000 people between the largest and smallest districts.
The bill introduced in the House Friday is expected to address that issue by shifting district lines to “zero out” population discrepancies. Wilson said his bill “zeroes out” the discrepancies and brings the districts into compliance with court rulings.
An analysis of the bill was not immediately available.
Szeliga expressed concerns about the timing of the release of Department of Legislative Services analysis of the bill.
“This is for the public record, because should this proceed, there certainly will be a lawsuit, I guarantee you that,” Szeliga said on the House floor Friday. “And so for the public record, we need to know when the fiscal note will be available so that people can read the bill along with the fiscal note.”
Szeliga was the plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging the 2022 map. An Anne Arundel County judge struck down the map in what some called a “novel” interpretation of the state constitution, but the ruling led to a quickly cobbled-together compromise map that is currently in use.
House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel) said the analysis would be available prior to the hearing.