{"id":27982,"date":"2026-08-05T01:46:59","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T20:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=27982"},"modified":"2026-08-05T01:46:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T20:46:59","slug":"maryland-lawmakers-get-closer-to-asking-voters-to-clear-the-way-for-redistricting-helping-democrats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=27982","title":{"rendered":"Maryland lawmakers get closer to asking voters to clear the way for redistricting helping Democrats"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"prism-article-body\">\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">Maryland lawmakers are getting closer to asking the state&#8217;s voters to decide in November whether to clear the way for a new congressional map that would favor Democrats in all eight of the state\u2019s U.S. House districts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">On Tuesday, lawmakers in the Democratic-dominated House approved putting an amendment on the ballot to allow the change. The Senate was expected to vote on it later in the day. Sending it to voters requires three-fifths approval of both legislative chambers, who met in a special session to consider the change.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">In a state where Democrats now occupy seven of the eight House seats, Republicans are calling the effort a blatant power grab.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">In debate in the House on Tuesday, Republican Delegate Kevin Hornberger told his colleagues: \u201cJust because we can go ultra-partisan doesn&#8217;t mean we should go ultra-partisan.\u201d Other Republicans said constituents weren&#8217;t behind it and one Democratic lawmaker worried that the change could cost rural parts of the state federal resources if they&#8217;re put in the same districts with suburban areas. The measure still passed 96-38.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">If the amendment is ultimately approved, it would be part of a <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/redistricting-congress-gerrymander-trump-4c5c98bec6af054d13b6275b6917bc86\">rapid reconfiguration<\/a> of congressional district lines that began last year when President Donald Trump urged Republican-controlled states to adjust their maps to help the party in the 2026 midterm elections. Normally, redistricting happens just once a decade after new Census data is released.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Eight states \u2014 Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas \u2014 have redrawn maps to help Republicans, who could pick up as many as 16 seats due to the redistricting. New maps in California and Utah could give Democrats an advantage in six races.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Maryland moved more slowly because Democratic state Senate President Bill Ferguson blocked an earlier initiative aimed at putting new maps in place for this year. He was worried that the state Supreme Court, with most of its members appointed by a Republican former governor, could backfire \u2014 especially because a judge in 2022 <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/maryland-congress-05589b4c9240f458acf4ac5995b5a80e\">rejected a new map<\/a> that could have boosted the Democrats.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Ferguson said his view changed after the U.S. Supreme Court <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/supreme-court-voting-rights-congressional-redistricting-louisiana-aa5d7dbde7c13654f341d152c2ad5229\">weakened the Voting Rights Act<\/a> in April, giving Republicans grounds for reconfiguring districts with large minority populations in <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/congress-redistricting-voting-rights-louisiana-de8084df5f9c96ce90c4a7aa0a45e902\">Southern states<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The question that could go to voters is designed to make it hard for the court to reject redistricting. It would make it clear that the parameters the judge cited \u2014 including that districts be compact in form and have regard given to \u201cnatural boundaries\u201d \u2014 apply only to state legislative districts, not congressional ones.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">That would allow congressional districts to cross the Chesapeake Bay. Currently, the only district on the rural Eastern Shore east of the Bay is also the only one represented by a Republican, Rep. Andy Harris, the chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maryland lawmakers are getting closer to asking the state&#8217;s voters to decide in November whether to clear the way for a new congressional map that would favor Democrats in all eight of the state\u2019s U.S. House districts. On Tuesday, lawmakers in the Democratic-dominated House approved putting an amendment on the ballot to allow the change&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/bc92e108-5e05-420e-9c42-ac374a5deefd\/wirestory_cef4c644b9751c0fd05ba878e608177a_16x9.jpg?w=1600","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}