After months of internal disagreements, Maryland Democrats appear open to redrawing the state’s congressional map.

“My job has been the same from day one: Protect Maryland in the fight against Donald Trump,” Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson said, according to WBAL-TV.

“That’s why I held the line on Maryland’s 7-1 map. I wasn’t willing to gamble Democratic seats on a legal fight we could lose,” Ferguson continued.

“Now, the rules have changed. The Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, and Southern legislatures are already using that ruling to wipe out minority districts,” he added.

WBAL-TV shared further:

Earlier this month, the governor hadn’t specifically specified whether he would call for a special legislative session to address redistricting.

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Maryland Gov. Wes Moore has been a strong advocate for redistricting this year, pushing for the state to join other Democratic-controlled states in responding to new maps that favor Republicans.

“They want us to sit down and be quiet about it. Absolutely not,” Moore said earlier this month. “I’m never going to stop fighting for our democracy and anyone who’s waiting for me to stop fighting for democracy, they are going to be waiting a h*** of a long time. I believe in this moment. We’ve got to understand what is happening. We are watching a federal administration that is trying to rig and steal elections.”

In August 2025, Moore ordered Maryland’s map to be redrawn after Republican-led states ordered maps redrawn in a partisan manner. A new map drawn by the Governor’s Redistricting Advisory Commission reshaped the 1st and 3rd congressional districts in a way that could put Maryland’s sole Republican member of Congress at a disadvantage.

The House of Delegates has since passed the redistricting bill (House Bill 488), but it is currently languishing in the Senate Rules Committee.

Ferguson had publicly disagreed with the governor’s stance on redistricting, opting not to take up the issue during the legislative session. Ferguson was noticeably absent from Moore’s recent list of election endorsements, underscoring the division within the party.

Rep. Andy Harris, who has represented Maryland’s 1st Congressional District since 2011, is the lone Republican in the state’s congressional delegation.

“Maryland must respond as the ground shifts under us. I’m in active conversations with my caucus about a special session and constitutional amendment to address the 2022 Maryland court redistricting decision and new U.S. Supreme Court VRA decision, with the aim of putting this before Maryland voters in November,” Ferguson said.

“We’ll meet after the primary to prepare — we must do this right, without risking what we have already won,” he added.

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Mr. Ferguson wants to draft a ballot initiative to place in front of Maryland voters this November that would alter the state’s Constitution and, in his view, protect a new map from a court challenge. He hopes to convene the Maryland General Assembly after the June 23 primary.

Mr. Moore does not want to wait that long, according to a spokesman for his office. He would rather the legislature convene as soon as possible to enact a new map and then ask voters to approve it via referendum this November. He is also open to including a state constitutional amendment in that process, the spokesman said.

“I’m glad to hear the Senate president is willing to have a conversation about it,” Mr. Moore said at a news event on Friday. “I think it needs to include the maps.”

For Mr. Ferguson, even agreeing to the possibility of drawing new maps for 2028 represents a shift in attitude. At the height of the redistricting wars this spring, Mr. Ferguson’s opposition to redrawing Maryland’s maps ahead of this year’s elections flummoxed party leaders from Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the House, to Mr. Moore, who has grown a national profile during his time in Annapolis.

 

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