Maryland Democrats introduce redistricting legislation to counter Trump gerrymanders

Maryland Democrats are taking the next steps towards redrawing their state’s congressional map this year, introducing legislation aimed at balancing out Republicans’ gerrymandered gains in other states. 

Members of the Maryland House of Delegates introduced a measure Friday outlining a plan for the new map. The lower chamber’s rules committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on the bill Monday afternoon.

Democrats currently hold seven of Maryland’s eight congressional seats.

Last year, President Donald Trump launched a redistricting arms race by pressuring GOP-controlled states — including Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and others — to redo their congressional maps to tilt 2026 midterm elections in Republicans’ favor. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R)  announced that the Florida legislature will take up redistricting in an April special session. 

Democratic-controlled states, including California and Virginia, have moved to redraw their maps in response.  

Gov. Wes Moore (D) has pushed hard for a Maryland redraw despite some opposition from his own party, arguing that eliminating the state’s one Republican congressional district is a necessary move to thwart Trump’s plan.

Moore formed a redistricting advisory commission that voted Tuesday to recommend a new congressional map to the Maryland General Assembly.

Despite Moore’s support for a redraw, Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson (D) has made his opposition to redistricting clear, saying the plan would be too risky for Democrats.

Maryland has “certainty under the current map; that evaporates the moment we start down the path of redistricting mid-cycle with an unclear legal landscape and an even more unclear legal timeline,” Ferguson wrote in a letter to Senate Democrats in October.

In the letter, Ferguson outlined several risks that could emerge from redistricting. 

He stressed that a court could strike down the new map and order one that is not beneficial to Democrats. He also noted that, were Maryland to redraw its map, several Republican-led states that are currently resisting redistricting might change their mind.

Ferguson’s caution appears to be out of step with other Democratic-controlled states. In Virginia, Democrats are pushing for a map that would give them 10 out of 11 congressional seats. Currently, they hold six.

Earlier this month, the Virginia Senate passed a constitutional amendment that would allow lawmakers to redraw the state’s map.