(DCNF)—Democrats may be trying to deny Maryland Republicans representation again in their latest redistricting effort.
Maryland lawmakers announced plans for a special session next month to draft a constitutional amendment aimed at redistricting the state ahead of the 2024 midterm elections, the Associated Press reported Tuesday. Democrats previously proposed an 8-0 map that would’ve eliminated the state’s sole Republican seat, held by Rep. Andy Harris.
“What the Maryland Governor and the new Democrat Socialist Party are doing, since they know they can’t win on the Eastern Shore with their far-left ideas, is trying to win by gerrymandering — with state legislators actually creating a gerrymandering double standard — one standard of compact districts for themselves, and another standard allowing extreme gerrymandering for Congress,” former House Freedom Caucus Chair Harris said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The Maryland Democratic Party and Democratic Maryland Senate President Will Ferguson did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
“Maryland needs a durable, transparent constitutional framework for congressional redistricting that reflects the evolving legal landscape,” Democratic Maryland House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk stated, according to AP. “This special session gives the General Assembly the opportunity to respond thoughtfully to recent court decisions while ensuring that Maryland voters have the final say on any proposed constitutional changes.”
A bill aimed at redrawing Maryland’s 7-1 map to make Harris’ seat more competitive died in the Maryland Senate due to lawmakers’ concerns over whether it would survive judicial review, AP reported in April.
On the other side of the Potomac, the Virginia Supreme Court struck down a similar constitutional amendment, the DCNF reported in May. The ballot measure would have redrawn Virginia’s 6-5 Democrat-Republican map to 10-1 had the court not ruled it unconstitutional.
“Last year, Donald Trump launched an unprecedented wave of mid-decade gerrymandering to protect himself from the wrath of the voters this November. He demanded that his allies in the states slice and dice communities of color to diminish their political power and rig more districts in favor of Republicans,” Common Cause senior director Dan Vicuña said in a statement to the DCNF.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Texas’ mid-decade redraw in April, which is poised to give Republicans a 5-seat advantage. Democrats in the state legislature tried to prevent its passage by fleeing to New York and Illinois, the DCNF previously reported. Additionally, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis proposed another redraw in April that would likely give Republicans 4 more seats.
“States like Maryland are responding in kind to counterbalance the president’s authoritarian push,” Vicuña said. “Common Cause has a long history of opposing gerrymandering regardless of which party is doing it. However, the world has changed significantly. We will not endorse partisan gerrymandering, even when its motive is to offset more extreme gerrymandering by a different party. However, we will also not offer a blanket condemnation and demand unilateral political disarmament in the face of this authoritarian assault on fair representation and people-powered democracy.”
Vicuña also said that Common Cause will assess Maryland’s new map and process under its “fairness principles” to decide whether the nonprofit will oppose the redraw.
Despite Democrats controlling 7 out of 8 (or 87.5%) of Maryland’s congressional districts, Trump received 34.1% of the state’s vote during the 2024 election.
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