{"id":16169,"date":"2025-12-02T11:01:56","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T11:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/the-lines-bill-ferguson-wont-cross\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T11:01:56","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T11:01:56","slug":"the-lines-bill-ferguson-wont-cross","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/the-lines-bill-ferguson-wont-cross\/","title":{"rendered":"The lines Bill Ferguson won\u2019t cross"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

When Wes Moore and Bill Ferguson stood together in a Baltimore bar on a sweltering Saturday afternoon in the summer of 2022, the two political figures projected a promising vision of power for Democrats in a blue-leaning state where they stood on the cusp of fully controlling government.<\/p>\n

Moore was a former Rhodes Scholar and decorated combat veteran who was running for governor<\/a> with Oprah Winfrey\u2019s blessing but no experience in public office. Ferguson was a tactful consensus-builder who arrived in Annapolis with the moniker of \u201cbaby senator\u201d before rising to become the chamber president a decade later.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a Baltimorean,\u201d Moore told the campaign volunteers gathered in the Federal Hill neighborhood that Ferguson had represented since first being elected in 2010 at the age of 27. \u201cWho\u2019s making these decisions matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three years later, Maryland\u2019s two top Democrats find themselves unable to agree on a big one. Moore has become a champion of redrawing<\/a> his state\u2019s U.S. congressional lines to generate an additional seat for his party in next year\u2019s midterm elections. Ferguson, scarred by an earlier experience in which he helped deliver such an extreme map only to see it struck down by courts, is refusing to commit to even allowing a vote on a new redistricting measure<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

The new rupture highlights a fault line emerging within both parties as Democrats and Republicans scour the national map for opportunities to improve their congressional positions via gerrymandering<\/a> \u2014 between the short-term priorities of their respective national parties and the often longer-range yet parochial concerns of state legislative leaders.<\/p>\n

For Democrats, the most immediate obstacle to further gains is Ferguson, whose defiance has made him a villain to party officials nationwide. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries spoke with Ferguson in October ensuring he \u201cunderstands the assignment,\u201d as Jeffries put it<\/a>. \u201cWe need the state of Maryland,\u201d California Gov. Gavin Newsom said upon redrawing his state’s maps via passage of Proposition 50<\/a> to give his party five Democrat-leaning seats in the state. \u201cGrow a pair\u201d and stand up to President Donald Trump, a top Virginia lawmaker bluntly instructed Ferguson<\/a> the next day.<\/p>\n

The stand-off will likely come to a head in the coming weeks, as Moore faces an imminent choice: Call a special session and rely on Ferguson to deliver a majority for a gerrymandered map, or wait for the General Assembly to return in January for a regular session to allow more time for negotiations. Either way, the governor will have to convince 24 of the 34 Democratic senators to buck a respected leader whose control of campaign funds could help determine the fate of their reelection bids.<\/p>\n

The view from outside Maryland may have Moore, a likely 2028 presidential contender, towering over Ferguson. But in Annapolis, many think it is the Senate president who has made the better case for how Democrats should move forward.<\/p>\n

Ferguson \u201cholds the cards\u201d on redistricting, says former state Sen. Jill Carter, who served under both men. \u201cMoore is very popular and charismatic, but Bill is very politically savvy.”<\/p>\n

\"Maryland<\/p>\n

William Claiborne Ferguson IV was born<\/b> in Silver Spring, just outside of Washington, to a conservative-leaning father who worked in commercial real estate and a labor union-supporting mother who adored former President Bill Clinton. Ferguson attended Georgetown Preparatory School \u2014 the elite, all-boys Jesuit academy that also produced conservative Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh \u2014 and Davidson College in North Carolina, where he studied politics and economics with sights on a business career.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

But a post-collegiate stint with Teach for America<\/a> at one of Baltimore\u2019s toughest schools veered Ferguson away from his father\u2019s career and towards one in left-leaning politics. While serving as an aide to local-government officials<\/a>, Ferguson pursued a law degree at the University of Maryland and prepared to seek office. In 2010 he challenged Democratic state Sen. George W. Della Jr., who had been first elected in the year before Ferguson was born. As the primary devolved into mudslinging, Ferguson tried to keep the choice simple for voters: stick with the status quo or march with him into the future.<\/p>\n

Ferguson came to a chamber dominated by Maryland Senate President Mike Miller, known for deploying hardball tactics to keep his caucus in line over what became a 33-year tenure in the role. As the chamber\u2019s youngest senator, Ferguson won a reputation as a mild-mannered nerd who mastered education policy and the state budget while being teased by his staff for not knowing classic rock tunes.<\/p>\n

When Miller prepared to retire in 2020, senate Democrats turned to the then-36-year-old Ferguson, unanimously voting him the next senate president. Many in the party cheered his ascension as a generational and philosophical pivot to a new progressive era in the state capital.<\/p>\n

\"After<\/p>\n

\u201cBill Ferguson is more collaborative. He listens. He is open to changing his mind when … arguments are effectively made,\u201d said state Sen. Cheryl Kagan, a Democrat who served under both Miller and Ferguson. \u201cHe’s less of a king and more of a leader among equals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ferguson, now 42, spent much of his first few sessions as the Senate\u2019s top Democrat in trying to reel in then-Gov. Larry Hogan\u2019s Republican agenda. In the final two years of Hogan’s second term, Maryland Democrats overrode the governor\u2019s vetoes more than two dozen times. Ferguson also scored some bipartisan wins, too, helping Hogan deliver on a campaign promise by passing the largest tax cut in state history<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But it was a standoff with Hogan following the 2020 Census that left an indelible mark on Ferguson.<\/p>\n

Maryland had gained a half-million people over the previous decade, even as its largest city, Baltimore, suffered a steep population drop. Hogan saw the churn as an opening to target a Democrat-held congressional district \u2014 the 6th, stretching north from the Washington, D.C. suburbs to the Pennsylvania border and west to the West Virginia line \u2014 often described as one of the nation\u2019s most gerrymandered<\/a>. Hogan established a nonpartisan redistricting commission, which returned a map that had two of Maryland\u2019s eight seats leaning Republican.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

When Hogan called a special legislative session in December 2021 to approve the map, Democrats rebelled. With supermajorities in both chambers, they instead passed their own over Hogan\u2019s opposition, turning seven districts into safe Democratic seats and the long Republican-dominated 1st district \u2014 represented by House Freedom Caucus chair Andy Harris<\/a> \u2014 into toss-up territory.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt a little bit uncomfortable, I\u2019ll be totally candid, with the first map we passed,\u201d Ferguson recalled recently to The Bulwark<\/a>. \u201cI thought, I\u2019m willing to help facilitate this process.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Republicans sued, astate court ruled<\/a> in March 2022 that the Democrats\u2019 map amounted to an \u201cextreme partisan gerrymander\u201d that violated the state Constitution. Already well into an election year, senior Judge Lynne Battaglia gave lawmakers just days to pass a new map. Democratic lawmakers had little choice but to pass a revised map that would win Hogan\u2019s signature. Republicans kept their hold on the 1st district and Democrats have not since mounted a serious challenge to Harris there.<\/p>\n

Ferguson, who declined repeated requests to be interviewed for this article, now says he made a misjudgment in acquiescing to more seasoned leaders who convinced him a maximalist strategy would stand up to legal scrutiny. Seeing it shot down by the courts gives him a “different calculus of the risk,\u201d as he told the Bulwark, about any attempt at a nakedly partisan gerrymander.<\/p>\n

\u201cExperience does matter. What you’ve seen and gone through in the past does matter,\u201d said Malcolm Augustine, the second-highest ranking Democrat in the Maryland Senate. \u201cThat\u2019s the bottom line. He was there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Governor<\/p>\n

On an unseasonably warm afternoon<\/b> in January 2023, Ferguson stood at the state house to welcome Moore \u2014 a well-reviewed author and former college football player, Army officer, investment banker and nonprofit executive \u2014 to Annapolis. The ceremony dripped with nods to Moore\u2019s status as Maryland\u2019s first African-American governor<\/a>. Ferguson, who is white, stood less than three feet away as Moore placed his hand on a Bible belonging to abolitionist Fredrick Douglass during the swearing-in, which was held in a private event in the Senate chamber.<\/p>\n

Moments later, at the public outdoor ceremony before a crowd that included actor Chris Tucker and presidential daughter Chelsea Clinton, the new governor name-checked Ferguson in the second line of his inaugural address. \u201cIt\u2019s an honor to be your partner,\u201d Moore said.<\/p>\n

After years of playing defense against a Republican executive, Ferguson now had an ally who could allow legislative Democrats to define a proactive agenda. Many wanted to use the state\u2019s structural surplus to fund mortgage assistance programs for first-time homebuyers and cancel parole debt for long-serving inmates.<\/p>\n

\"Chelsea<\/p>\n

Early optimism about what the state\u2019s Democratic trifecta could deliver evaporated. Economic downturns ballooned the state deficit, as the Trump\u2019s administration\u2019s dismantling of the federal workforce and government contracts hit Maryland especially hard. Earlier this year, legislators resorted to raising taxes and fees by $1.6 billion \u2014 and have braced for lingering effects from the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history. The Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore last year that left six people dead has become an unending catastrophe: A state agency last month<\/a> estimated bridge-repair costs have doubled while the expected reopening has been delayed by years.<\/p>\n

This year, Maryland\u2019s two top Democrats have found themselves frequently at odds. In April, Moore was unable to pass a bill expanding the state\u2019s reliance on nuclear power, reclassifying it to count towards clean-energy goals. Ferguson\u2019s critics have<\/a>accused the Senate president of killing the bill<\/a> to benefit the Baltimore solar-panel company where he works as an executive<\/a>. (Officials in Maryland\u2019s part-time legislature are permitted to maintain outside employment.)<\/p>\n

When Ferguson the next month helped deliver a bill forming a commission to study reparations for descendants of slavery, Moore vetoed it. The surprising rebuff was viewed by many Senate Democrats, including those in the General Assembly\u2019s Black Caucus, as motivated by Moore\u2019s desire to demonstrate to a national audience that he was willing to buck his own party. \u201cI strongly believe now is not the time for another study,\u201d Moore wrote to Ferguson in a May 16 veto letter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

But it was a national movement on redistricting that did most to fracture Ferguson and Moore\u2019s relationship. In June, Republicans in Texas \u2014 under public pressure from the White House \u2014 first entertained the possibility of redrawing their U.S. House maps to produce more Republican-friendly seats. Democrats looked for states where they could offset Texas\u2019s moves with partisan gerrymanders of their own.<\/p>\n

Maryland appeared a natural candidate to join the growing Democratic counteroffensive. While California, Colorado and Virginia would have to amend their state constitutions for politicians to redraw lines mid-decade \u2014 and in New York a lawsuit to upend the status quo \u2014 pulling off such a move in Maryland would require only simple legislation. In August, Democratic state Sen. Clarence Lam introduced a bill that would place more liberal-leaning voters in the Republican-held 1st district.<\/p>\n

Moore soon embraced the idea of moving forward with such plans. In September, he accused Trump of \u201cattempting to gerrymander Black leaders out of office\u201d and called the actions of Republican legislatures akin to \u201cpolitical redlining<\/a>\u201d in a speech at a Congressional Black Caucus dinner.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time for Maryland to have a conversation about whether we have a fair map or not,\u201d he told reporters then<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ferguson, too, expressed openness to the redistricting idea, telling Blue Light News earlier that month that a mid-decade gerrymander was \u201cthe last possible option that we should explore, but we won’t sit by idly and watch democracy get undermined.\u201d<\/p>\n

But as the pressure nationally ramped up, the more his ambivalence began to surface. He reminded colleagues of a 2002 state-court decision in which judges redrew Baltimore-area state senate districts<\/a> upon ruling that a map drawn by Democrats violated constitutional requirements for Maryland\u2019s districts to be \u201ccompact in form<\/a>\u201d around county lines and bodies of water. Ferguson also likes to point out that since the more recent smackdown of the 2021 gerrymander, Maryland\u2019s Supreme Court still does not favor Democrats: five of the seven judges now on the court were appointed by Hogan.<\/p>\n

That make-up, Ferguson suggests, could mean if the courts throw out any newly passed map, reverting to congressional boundaries with the current 7-1 advantage is not a foregone conclusion \u2014 and a replacement could end up a lot worse for Democrats.<\/p>\n

Other Democrats who participated in the 2021 redistricting case see the legal issues differently. \u201cThere’s no binding precedent in Maryland that would impact congressional redistricting in the way that I think Senator Ferguson fears,\u201d former Attorney General Brian Frosh said in an interview last month.<\/p>\n

\"Maryland<\/p>\n

Amid the uproar, congressional Democrats set their sights on Ferguson. Jeffries, who would become speaker if his party retakes the House, called Ferguson multiple times to make the case that the time was right for a partisan gerrymander. Days later, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee released a poll showing a majority of Maryland voters<\/a> did not just support redistricting, but “are likely to support primary candidates that support Maryland redistricting by wide margins,\u201d according to an accompanying memo from Change Research. Former Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer and Judiciary Committee ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin \u2014 a former state senator who served alongside Ferguson for six years \u2014 issued a public letter<\/a> on Nov. 10 calling it an \u201cethical moral and political imperative\u201d that state lawmakers break with the Senate president.<\/p>\n

Moore, too, began ramping up pressure on Ferguson. He formed a Governor\u2019s Redistricting Advisory Commission<\/a> that holds virtual meetings with residents to solicit recommendations to the governor and the General Assembly on whether to move forward with redistricting. At the first meeting, Ferguson \u2014 the only member of the panel who has publicly opposed Moore\u2019s plan \u2014 was seen nodding in solidarity with members of the public imploring the commission to stand down on redrawing lines.<\/p>\n

Moore also launched a \u201cLeave No One Behind<\/a>\u201d legislative slate, something akin to a political action committee that those around the governor suggest he may use to launch primary challenges to incumbent Democratic lawmakers. (Moore\u2019s office declined a request to interview him for this article.)<\/p>\n

\"Activists<\/p>\n

If anything, the public pressure seems to be hardening Ferguson\u2019s hesitation about redistricting into full-blown resistance. In late October, a week after speaking with Jeffries, Ferguson issued a memo to his Senate caucus<\/a> laying out his biggest fear about moving forward: that his party could end up losing up to two seats if more aggressive maps were struck down and ordered redrawn by the courts. The \u201ccertainty\u201d of the current map, he wrote, \u201cevaporates the moment we start down the path or redistricting mid-cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe legal risks are too high, the timeline for action is dangerous and the downside risk to Democrats is catastrophic,\u201d Ferguson wrote.<\/p>\n

Some of the Democrats in Ferguson\u2019s caucus have begun to internalize his arguments. Nick Charles, whose senate district covers Prince George\u2019s County, a wealthy majority Black suburb outside of Washington, said his constituents want lawmakers to join the national fight, but soften when they learn of the potential risks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happens if we take that position?\u201d asked Charles. \u201cOn the surface, it looks good, like \u2018Man, we look like we\u2019re fighting.\u2019 But it’s like bringing a knife to a gunfight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still other Democrats are growing more confident in their depictions of Ferguson as timid and na\u00efve.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think President Ferguson \u2026 is an awesome public servant, very thoughtful guy, and certainly intends well,\u201d said Baltimore city Councilman Mark Conway, who last month announced he would challenge Rep. Kweisi Mfume for not doing enough to confront Trump. Conway sides with Moore on redistricting and is disappointed by Ferguson for not jumping into the brawl. \u201cI just think we\u2019re looking at a new day and maybe some of the toughest times we\u2019ve ever had as a country in light of the willingness of Republicans to do whatever it takes to secure power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ferguson has already drawn his own primary challenge<\/a> from social-media influencer Bobby LaPin \u2014 a charter-boat captain and political novice known to 90,000 followers on Instagram as the \u201cSail Local Guy\u201d \u2014 who has said the Senate president\u2019s resistance to redrawing maps pushed him to run.<\/p>\n

Those close to Ferguson say he knows the intricacies of keeping his caucus together and brushes off the outside pressure campaign as political distractions. Ferguson had closely watched developments in Indiana, where Republican legislative leaders for weeks held off pressure<\/a> from the White House and the state\u2019s governor to take up redistricting, and had taken solace in their successful defiance. But those leaders reversed course and will begin a special session this week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Maryland<\/p>\n

Maryland\u2019s commission will end its work in December, which Moore could use as a basis to call a special session to take on the redistricting question. Otherwise, Moore could hold off until mid-January, when lawmakers return for their regular 90-day session. That would leave little wiggle room to move maps through the legislature, and limited time to survive likely legal challenges before the state\u2019s all-important June primaries.<\/p>\n

Each option carries political risks for Moore. Ferguson has the power to essentially ignore the governor\u2019s desires by convening a special session and then quickly adjourning before a vote on redistricting. If Moore waits to focus his pressure campaign in January, Ferguson could respond by otherwise working to stymie the governor\u2019s agenda at a moment he is hoping to elevate his national profile, including by overriding Moore\u2019s veto of the reparations bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not going to be a good session for him, at least not starting,\u201d a legislative aide, granted anonymity to speak candidly of Ferguson\u2019s calculations, said of the governor. \u201cHe\u2019s not going to get shit through \u2014 not a confirmation, not a thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Moore may feel urgency to join Democrats\u2019 redistricting bonanza in time to shape the midterm elections, that time crunch is of little relevance to Ferguson. The Senate president is half a decade into his role leading the Maryland Senate \u2014 a blip compared to a predecessor who held it for more than three decades \u2014 and Ferguson expects to be still toiling away in Annapolis well beyond 2028.<\/p>\n

Moore\u2019s \u201conly way out of the box that he’s built for himself is to either change Bill’s mind, which doesn’t seem likely \u2026 or it’s doing something that Wes has never done before in his life, and literally take out another politician \u2014 a sitting Maryland Senate president,\u201d said Doug Mayer, a Republican strategist who worked for Hogan. \u201cBill Ferguson lives here, Wes Moore is just staying here. That’s why Bill Ferguson is saying no to this.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Wes Moore and Bill Ferguson stood together in a Baltimore bar on a sweltering Saturday afternoon in the summer of 2022, the two political figures projected a promising vision of power for Democrats in a blue-leaning state where they stood on the cusp of fully controlling government. Moore was a former Rhodes Scholar and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}