The Democratic leader of the Maryland Senate on Tuesday sent a letter to dozens of state lawmakers rejecting the party’s effort to redistrict in the state, bucking Democrats’ national effort to redraw congressional lines.
Bill Ferguson, the Maryland Senate president who for months has been privately castigated by Democrats who support redistricting, laid out why he wants to block any legislative effort to try to get one additional congressional seat for Democrats in Maryland.
“I want to … provide some additional clarity regarding why; after speaking with many of you individually, the Senate is choosing not to move forward with mid-cycle redistricting,” Ferguson wrote in a three-page letter sent Tuesday evening to all members of the chamber’s Democrats.
“Despite deeply shared frustrations about the state of our country, mid-cycle redistricting for Maryland presents a reality where the legal risks are too high, the timeline for action is dangerous, the downside risk to Democrats is catastrophic, and the certainty of our existing map would be undermined,” he wrote.
The letter comes as Democrats are seeking to counter President Donald Trump’s attempts to push Republicans to alter congressional maps in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina, among others, to make them more favorable to Republicans in an effort to keep control of the House in 2026 and beyond.
In recent days, Democrats in New York, Illinois and Virginiahave ramped up efforts to redistrict, even as some in the party worry more blue-leaning states need to join the fight. Voters in California next week will also decide whether to create a new congressional map that would net the state five blue seats.
At least one Maryland lawmaker believed the effort by Democrats in Virginia, who could complete the first part of their redistricting push as soon as this week, could help push Maryland lawmakers into the redistricting battle.
Maryland Del. David Moon, the House Majority Leader who is also working on redistricting proposals, suggested via text before Ferguson sent his Tuesday letter, that it was “helping drive intense conversation, but we still don’t have agreement” on the path forward.
Democratic Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a potential 2028 presidential hopeful,told POLITICO last month: “There’s no hold up from me” adding that he was ready for his “legislative partners” to start the redistricting process. Another Maryland lawmaker, House Speaker Adrienne Jones, has signaled she was also eager to launch a redrawing push of Maryland’s Congressional map.
Moore’s office did not return a request to comment. A spokesperson for Jones declined to comment. Ferguson also declined to comment.
Ferguson has always been uneasy about redistricting. In his letter, he referenced the party’s 2021 effort by Democrats to approve a map that would have eliminated the state’s only Republican seat, currently held by House Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Andy Harris, only to have it struck down by a judge the following year.
Ferguson, who is white, also made a racial argument against moving to redraw state lines, saying the state, which has a governor, House Speaker and attorney general who are all Black, has long fought against racial gerrymandering that was aimed at “diluting” the Black vote.
“It is hypocritical to say that it is abhorrent to tactically shift voters based on race, but not to do so based on party affiliation,” he said.
He acknowledged that pressure is mounting on Maryland Democrats to move,including a survey commissioned by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and shared with POLITICO last week indicating a majority of Maryland voters reacted positively to arguments supporting the redistricting fight. Ferguson however suggested in the letter that upending the state’s current maps for just a single seat, was not a fight worth taking.
Maryland state Sen. Clarence Lam, who introduced a bill in August that put more liberal-leaning voters in the district held by Harris, rejected Ferguson’s rationale, saying on Tuesday that the leader’s arguments don’t hold much water.
“He’s saying that he feels like this would be the equivalent of racial gerrymandering, that if we did this,” Lam said. “That seems very ironic and rich, given that the Supreme Court is about to kill section two of the [Voting Rights Act]. He’s basically making the argument that the Republicans on the Supreme Court are making.”
