Maryland House greenlights new congressional map, but faces uncertainty in Senate

The Maryland House has advanced a new congressional map that would eliminate the state’s last Republican-held seat in that chamber.

But the map is expected to find itself in the middle of a state Senate showdown.

The mid-decade redistricting, pushed heavily by Democratic Gov. Wes Moore, would likely give Democrats a 8-0 edge in the congressional delegation.

“Now it’s time for the Maryland State Senate to do what Marylanders expect and democracy demands: take up this map, debate it, improve it if needed — and vote,” Mr. Moore said in a statement after Monday’s vote in the House of Delegates.

The House spent nearly four hours debating the measure, with Democrats mostly condemning the Trump administration, which initiated the redistricting push in GOP-led states.

Republicans argued that the proposed map’s process was rushed and not transparent — a consistent narrative also held by Rep. Andy Harris, Maryland’s lone GOP congressman.

Leaders in the state’s upper chamber have warned for months that the bill may stall and fail, as it doesn’t have enough support.

Even Senate President Bill Ferguson, Baltimore Democrat, has criticized the new congressional lines, arguing that the bill is legally and politically risky.

State Democrats tried to pass a similar 8-0 map in 2022, but a court struck down the map as a “product of extreme partisan gerrymandering” in response to a Republican-led lawsuit.

Maryland passed another map in 2022, and both parties dropped their respective legal fights.

Mr. Harris has threatened a lawsuit against the new map, challenging “not only the proposed map but the current partisan gerrymandered map that was never subjected to a court evaluation in 2022.”

Maryland Democrats are moving quickly anyway in response to redistricting in red states at the behest of President Trump. As House Republicans cling to their thin majority ahead of the November midterm elections, Democrats are trying to pick up any seats.

“This moment requires courage, and this moment requires a vote,” Mr. Moore, a possible 2028 presidential candidate, said on MSNOW after the House vote.

The bill is expected to be sent to the Senate Rules Committee, packed with Mr. Ferguson’s top leaders, and may not make it to the floor.

If the long-shot legislation passes the state Senate, it would set forth a constitutional amendment for voters on whether new boundaries would be used until the 2030 decennial U.S. census reapportionment.