Maryland Redistricting Map Removes State’s 1 Republican Seat

Maryland’s redistricting effort is one step closer to implementing a new map. Maryland’s Redistricting Advisory Commission voted on Tuesday to recommend a proposal for a new map to Gov. Wes Moore and the state’s Grand Assembly.

According to the Hill, the new map would remove Maryland’s only Republican seat, currently held by Rep. Andy Harris, chair of the House Freedom Caucus. “See you in court, Wes!” Harris said in a statement after the map was released. 

“At a moment when other states are moving aggressively to redraw maps, and when fundamental voting rights protections face renewed threats, Maryland has a responsibility to lead with urgency,” said Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), chair of the governor’s panel, in a release. 

“Our goal is to ensure our congressional delegation reflects the will of the people, protects representation for historically underrepresented communities, and gives Marylanders a Congress that can serve as a real check on this President.”

Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson (D) has strongly opposed the map, calling it “objectively unconstitutional.”

“Ultimately, a flawed process has delivered a flawed product,” he said, according to the Washington Post. In an interview with WYPR, Ferguson said his focus “is to not jeopardize the current map, where we are in a good position to stand firm against the Trump administration.”

Ferguson’s concerns aren’t entirely unreasonable. Maryland’s map is already heavily gerrymandered in favor of Democrats, and any moves to further gerrymander it could backfire into a dummymander, which is when a redistricting effort winds up helping the opposing party. This happened to Texas Republicans throughout the 2010s, when demographic changes allowed Democrats to make gains in the state despite a Republican-favored map. 

With that acknowledged, though, I feel that combating the escalating lawlessness and authoritarian methods of the Trump administration by any means necessary is far more pressing than a potential dummy-mander. We’ve got ICE agents blatantly disregarding the constitutional rights of American citizens, which, call me crazy, but I kinda feel like that’s a more egregious violation of the Constitution than a map designed to curb a president who’s moving like Emperor Palpatine. Norms work in normal times, and these are far from normal. 

Should more Democrats in Maryland’s Grand Assembly feel like Ferguson, we could see a situation play out that’s similar to Indiana’s failed redistricting effort. Indiana was one of several Red states that President Donald Trump pressured into a rare, mid-decade redistricting effort ahead of the midterm elections. While the effort had support from the state House and Indiana’s governor, it was deeply unpopular with Indiana voters and ultimately failed in the state Senate, despite having a Republican supermajority. 

Brian Frosh, Maryland’s former attorney general and a member of the redistricting commission, told the Washington Post that the legal and constitutional concerns over the new map are being greatly exaggerated. 

“We know they’re trying to tip the playing field to their advantage, and I don’t think we should sit back and play by a different set of rules,” Frosh told the Post. “Those are the rules that we need to play by, and we need to play as hard as we can. It’s the old saying: You can’t bring a knife to a gunfight.”

As Trump’s approval ratings sink, with more Americans disapproving of both ICE’s tactics and his handling of the economy, it’s looking more and more like all the redistricting in the world can’t stop the Republican Party from taking a massive L in the upcoming midterms. 

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