Maryland lawmakers ask voters to clear the way for a congressional map designed to boost Democrats

Maryland voters will decide in November whether to clear the way for a new congressional map that would favor Democrats in all eight of the state's U.S. House districts for the 2028 elections.

Both chambers of the Democratic-dominated state legislature on Tuesday approved putting an amendment on the ballot to allow the change. Sending it to voters required three-fifths approval of both legislative chambers, which met in a special session to consider the change. It cleared the House 96-38 and the Senate 32-13.

Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, praised lawmakers for putting the measure before voters, and joined them in saying it was necessary to combat President Donald Trump's push for a mid-decade redistricting that favors Republicans.

"I continue to believe that our country needs national redistricting reform. But until that happens, inaction is not an option," Moore said in a statement. "Maryland will not be caught flat-footed while Republicans engage in political redlining that guts decades of progress that the generations before us fought for."

Debate over the redistricting amendment

In a state where Democrats now occupy seven of the eight House seats, Republicans are calling the effort a blatant power grab — and a move that violates a new state law intended to give voters more time to consider proposed amendments.

In debate in the House on Tuesday, Republican Delegate Kevin Hornberger told his colleagues: "Just because we can go ultra-partisan doesn't mean we should go ultra-partisan." Other Republicans said constituents weren't behind it and one Democratic lawmaker worried that the change could cost rural parts of the state federal resources if they're put in the same districts with suburban areas.

In the debate, Democrats emphasized that the amendment does not include approval of any specific new maps.

If the amendment is ultimately approved, it would likely be part of a rapid reconfiguration of congressional district lines that began last year when Trump urged Republican-controlled states to adjust their maps to help the party in the 2026 midterm elections. Normally, redistricting happens just once a decade after new Census data is released.

Eight states — Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas — have redrawn maps to help Republicans, who could pick up as many as 16 seats due to the redistricting. New maps in California and Utah could give Democrats an advantage in six races.

Maryland moved more slowly — and with an approach that will not change districts for this year's elections — because Democratic state Senate President Bill Ferguson blocked an earlier initiative aimed at putting new maps in place for this year. He was worried that the state Supreme Court, with most of its members appointed by a Republican former governor, could backfire — especially because a judge in 2022 rejected a new map that could have boosted the Democrats.

Ferguson said his view changed after the U.S. Supreme Court weakened the Voting Rights Act in April, giving Republicans grounds for reconfiguring districts with large minority populations in Southern states.

The question that could go to voters is designed to make it hard for the court to reject redistricting. It would make it clear that the parameters the judge cited — including that districts be compact in form and have regard given to "natural boundaries" — apply only to state legislative districts, not congressional ones.

That would allow congressional districts to cross the Chesapeake Bay, which is the only way Democrats could draw a map that gives them an edge in every congressional district. Currently, the only district on the rural Eastern Shore east of the Bay is also the only one represented by a Republican, Rep. Andy Harris, the chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.

Supporters of the amendment

Supporters say the amendment clarifies that Maryland's constitutional redistricting standards apply to state legislative districts — not congressional districts — bringing the state in line with federal law governing congressional maps.

"It ensures that Maryland operates under the same legal framework as other states," House Speaker Del. Jocelyn Peña-Melnyk said.

Democrats argued the proposal provides legal clarity while allowing voters to decide whether to make the constitutional change.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said that if the constitutional amendment is approved by voters, it will clarify the way Maryland's congressional districts are drawn, while ensuring that Marylanders have the final say over their representation.    

"For over a year, I have warned that Donald Trump and Republicans across the country are working to rig the system, weaken voting rights, and make this pain permanent. I am proud that today we united and took action," Gov. Moore said. "I continue to believe that our country needs national redistricting reform. But until that happens, inaction is not an option. Maryland will not be caught flat-footed while Republicans engage in political redlining that guts decades of progress that the generations before us fought for."

Opposing the amendment

Republicans strongly opposed the measure, arguing it would remove state constitutional protections and make it easier for Democrats to draw more favorable congressional districts in the future.

"Draw a line to make sure that they win and get what they want," House Minority Leader Jason Buckel, R-Allegany County, said during floor debate.

One Democrat also broke with her party.

Del. Sheree Sample-Hughes, who represents Dorchester and Wicomico counties, voted against the proposal, saying she fears Eastern Shore communities could lose their voice if future congressional districts combine rural areas with more suburban regions.

"I do know that the citizens in my district — they don't want to see us become an 8-0, they still want to have a voice, they still want to be at the table and understand that the rural community is the rural community and it's not diluted by having suburban areas as part of it," Sample-Hughes said.