Maryland Democrat Refuses To Go Along With Party’s Gerrymandering Push

Democratic Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson on Tuesday blocked his party’s effort to redraw congressional maps, halting plans to target the state’s only Republican lawmaker.

In a three-page letter to his Democratic colleagues, first obtained by Politico, Ferguson said he would not support holding a special session to redraw the maps and warned that a mid-cycle redistricting effort would be “catastrophic.” Despite controlling the governor’s office and holding supermajorities in both chambers, Democrats cannot advance a redistricting plan without Ferguson’s support.

“If one seat is the difference between whether or not we are standing up to Donald Trump, then we’ve lost from the beginning,” Ferguson told reporters on Tuesday, according to The Washington Post.

Rep. Andy Harris, chair of the House Freedom Caucus and the state’s sole Republican in Congress, has been the target of the redistricting push, backed by Gov. Wes Moore and state House Speaker Adrienne Jones.

In his letter, Ferguson referenced Maryland’s 2021 Democratic map effort, which aimed to eliminate Harris’s seat but was struck down by a judge. He warned that rushing mid-cycle changes could face similar legal challenges.

“In Maryland, 31.5% of registered voters are registered Republicans,” Ferguson noted. “We do not know how a court would assess a revised midcycle map and whether the court would use party affiliation as a measure.”