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{"id":26720,"date":"2026-08-03T14:32:41","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T14:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/maryland-dems-kick-off-latest-redistricting-effort-after-a-year-of-infighting\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T14:32:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T14:32:41","slug":"maryland-dems-kick-off-latest-redistricting-effort-after-a-year-of-infighting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/maryland-dems-kick-off-latest-redistricting-effort-after-a-year-of-infighting\/","title":{"rendered":"Maryland Dems kick off latest redistricting effort after a year of infighting"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>ANNAPOLIS, Md. \u2014 Maryland Democrats kicked off a special session on redistricting Monday, with the battle to redraw House districts around the country showing no signs of stopping at the November midterm elections.<\/p>\n<p>Democrats are gearing up for a process to ultimately draw out the state\u2019s only Republican member of Congress, Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/directory.politicopro.com\/member\/151768\" data-person-id=\"151768\">Andy Harris<\/a>. But any new map wouldn\u2019t kick in until 2028.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, the state Legislature is in town this week to vote on a constitutional amendment that some party leaders believe would insulate future redistricting efforts from legal scrutiny. This, after a Maryland state court <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2022\/03\/25\/maryland-court-congressional-map-illegal-democratic-gerrymander-00020518\" target=\"_blank\">blocked a proposed 8-0 Democratic district map in 2022<\/a>, charging that it ran afoul of the state Constitution.<\/p>\n<p>While Democrats around the state, including Gov. Wes Moore, had called for the Legislature to enact redistricting in time for this year\u2019s midterms, Senate President Bill Ferguson \u2014 also a Democrat \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2025\/10\/28\/maryland-redistricting-senate-president-bill-ferguson-00626808\" target=\"_blank\">has long argued that any map redraw coming before an amendment<\/a> wouldn\u2019t pass legal muster, and that the downside risks were \u201ccatastrophic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe&#8217;ve known from the beginning what is at stake, and most importantly, we have known that in this moment of American history, it is insufficient to act with haste when the consequences of missteps are so impactful,\u201d Ferguson said at a Monday press conference. \u201cWhat those consequences could have looked like: a map rejected by Maryland\u2019s Supreme Court. A map drawn by the court that sends us backwards when we could least afford it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/mgaleg.maryland.gov\/mgawebsite\/Legislation\/Details\/sb2100\/?ys=2026rs\" target=\"_blank\">new language<\/a> aims to make clear that certain requirements around compactness and respecting natural and political boundaries apply only to legislative districts and not congressional ones, which could clear a path for the state to gerrymander. <\/p>\n<p>Should lawmakers pass it, Maryland voters would still need to approve the proposed amendment in November.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans have taken a major lead in the interparty redistricting war for this year\u2019s election, particularly after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/04\/29\/supreme-court-voting-rights-act-louisiana-00898123\" target=\"_blank\">redrawing maps in a handful of Southern states<\/a> after the Supreme Court gutted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/04\/29\/voting-rights-act-supreme-court-future-00898949\" target=\"_blank\">the Voting Rights Act in April<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA legal earthquake changed the landscape this spring,\u201d Ferguson said. \u201cEven worse, we saw states like Tennessee, Louisiana, and South Carolina act with haste to attempt to eliminate majority-minority congressional districts. These acts changed the calculus, and that&#8217;s why we&#8217;re here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>(<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/05\/07\/tennessee-republicans-redistricting-voting-rights-act-midterms-00910430\" target=\"_blank\">Tennessee<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/05\/29\/louisiana-republicans-pass-gerrymander-landry-00942820\" target=\"_blank\">Louisiana<\/a> changed their lines for 2026, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/05\/26\/south-carolina-redistricting-fails-clyburn-trump-00936000\" target=\"_blank\">South Carolina ultimately did not<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>The amendment, Ferguson said, \u201censures that Maryland has the ability to respond if the Trump administration or any future federal administration seeks to further erode the basic standards of democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ANNAPOLIS, Md. \u2014 Maryland Democrats kicked off a special session on redistricting Monday, with the battle to redraw House districts around the country showing no signs of stopping at the November midterm elections. Democrats are gearing up for a process to ultimately draw out the state\u2019s only Republican member of Congress, Rep. Andy Harris. But [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26720","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=26720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26720\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}