Dem
47
GOP
53
Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD), who may have vice-presidential ambitions in 2028, took one for the team and created a commission to re-gerrymander Maryland's congressional map even more than it was already gerrymandered. Initially, he was on the side of "good government" rather than partisan politics, but he felt which way the wind was blowing and moved in a new direction. On Tuesday, his five-member commission, chaired by Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), produced its magnum opus, a new map. Here are the old and new maps next to each other:
The map is not finished yet. The focus has been on stuffing Democrats into MD-01 and removing Republicans from it. The members seem to assume that fish are Democrats (because Democrats are vegans?), so Chesapeake Bay was added to MD-01. Notice its absence as a neutral area in the new map. The maps will have to be tweaked somewhat to get the populations equal. One feature of the new map is that three of the districts are majority-minority.
The process of mapmaking included an appeal to the general public to submit maps. With Dave's Redistricting Website, anyone can be a mapmaker now and the commission received over three dozen maps from the public.
The new map is not a done deal. The commission vote was 3-2 and state Senate President Bill Ferguson (D) opposes a new map. Moore intends to send the map to the state House, where it will pass easily, then on to the Senate. Ferguson could refuse to take a vote on it, but doing so would incur the wrath of his caucus. Democrats control the state Senate 34-13.
One House seat does not make a huge difference, but MD-01 is special. Turning it blue would unseat Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), who is chairman of the House Freedom Caucus. When the FC complains about the new map, the response is sure to be: "You guys started this." (V)