Maryland Democratic Gov. Wes Moore pushes the case for redrawing the state's congressional map

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ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said Wednesday he wants to move forward with redrawing the state's congressional map and have the Democratic-controlled legislature vote on it, despite opposition from a key fellow Democrat concerned that mid-decade redistricting could backfire and cost the party a seat instead of gaining it one.

Moore, who appointed a commission to review potential maps that could soon recommend one, said in an interview with The Associated Press that he believes the General Assembly “has not just the authority, but the responsibility to be able to then have a vote on the recommendations of the commission.”

“This is a thorough process that they have gone through, and I think when they complete their work, it’ll then go in front of the House and then go in front of the Senate, and I do think that the bodies at that point should take it to their members,” Moore said during the interview on the first day of the state's annual 90-day session.

Democrats in Maryland outnumber Republicans 2-1, and the party already holds a 7-1 edge over Republicans in the state's U.S. House delegation.

President Donald Trump started an unusual redistricting plan in July by calling on Texas Republicans to redraw their congressional map to create more favorable districts for the GOP — even though there was no new census data to base it upon. That triggered a mid-decade redistricting battle the likes of which has not been common since the late 1800s.

The battle so far has resulted in nine more seats that Republicans believe they can win and six more seats that Democrats think they can win, putting the GOP up by three. However, redistricting is being litigated in several states, and there is no guarantee that the parties will win the seats they have redrawn.

Moore said he called for the Maryland commission to explore redistricting, because if other states redraw their maps Maryland officials should not “sit on their hands.”

But Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson, a Baltimore Democrat, has said a redistricting effort aimed at flipping a seat held by Republican Rep. Andy Harris could jeopardize at least one seat and potentially two that now are held by Democrats.

Ferguson pointed out that a congressional map adopted in 2021 in Maryland was ruled unconstitutional by a judge who described it as “a product of extreme partisan gerrymandering.” That map would have made it easier for a Democrat to defeat Harris. Maryland passed another map in 2022, and the parties dropped their legal fight. Redrawing districts again could prompt a new legal challenge and allow a court to impose districts, Ferguson has noted.

“The reason we don’t do this is because there are huge risks associated with it that not only risk us not moving forward in the objective of having another Democratic seat,” Ferguson told the AP on Tuesday. “It would be, in my opinion, a higher likelihood that we would lose a seat, rather than gain.”

Changing the map could be disruptive to the state's election calendar, as well. Maryland has a Feb. 24 candidate filing deadline and a primary scheduled for June 23, the Senate president has noted.

Ferguson, who says a majority of the Senate's 34 Democrats also oppose redistricting this year, declined to say whether he would hold a vote on a map, if one is sent to his chamber.

“I think that’s hypothetical,” Ferguson said. “We’ll see. I think we’re already too late generally, and so we’ll see what happens in the debate moving forward.”

Maryland House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk, a Democrat, said in a recent interview she supports the work the governor's redistricting commission has done. She said she wants to wait and see what the recommendation is before commenting on how to proceed.