In early November of last year, Governor Moore created a five-member Governors Redistricting Advisory Commission or GRAC. The charge to the GRAC was to evaluate and redraw the district boundaries for Maryland’s eight congressional districts before the 2026 mid-term elections. In announcing the launch of the GRAC, Moore said, “My commitment has been clear from day one — we will explore every avenue possible to make sure Maryland has fair and representative maps.”
Truth be told, the real mission of Governor Moore’s GRAC was far removed from drawing and recommending fair and representative maps.
Goal one was to reconfigure Congressional District # 1 in a way to help unseat incumbent Andy Harris, the only Republican in Maryland’s eight member House delegation. Goal two was to enhance Moore’s standing as a rising star in national Democratic politics by helping to offset Republican gerrymandering in other states prior to the 2026 congressional elections.
Moore has been and is under intense pressure on this issue by national Democratic powerbrokers such as former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who chairs the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, and U.S. House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries.
On paper, achieving Governor Moore’s redistricting mission, these goals appeared to be feasible and almost easy. The Democratic party has control of the State House of Delegates and State Senate, both with super majorities, and the governorship.
Initially, all went on with Governor Moore’s redistricting initiative.
The GRAC drew and narrowly approved a new map strongly supported by the Governor, with three yes votes and two no votes, one by Bill Ferguson, President of the Maryland Senate.
A majority in the State House of Delegates moved quickly to approve legislation (House Bill 488) on GRAC’s recommendations on new congressional maps. The bill passed with 99 yes votes and 39 no votes. All but one Democratic Delegate who voted, voted yes and every Republican Delegate who voted, voted no. It was then sent to the Senate.
At that point, the GRAC initiative express train came off the rails.
Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson has been and is an opponent to redistrict the current congressional maps before the next U.S. census results are available. A solid majority of his super majority of Senators in the Senate support Senator Ferguson’s position to not take any action on HB 488 or on a comparable Senate bill.
Ferguson’s long-standing opposition is based on his conclusion that any new gerrymandered maps will be challenged in a court that could result in decisions that new maps are unconstitutional and need to be replaced. Ferguson may also be aware of the results of rulings by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on gerrymandering challenges in Pennsylvania where Democratic state legislators challenged redistricting maps drawn by and approved by Republican state legislators who at that time controlled the state House and the state Senate.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court not only ruled those maps were unconstitutional, they also drew their own maps for use going forward. An appeal by Republicans to block these state supreme court decisions and actions was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Of greatest concern to Ferguson, who is an attorney, is court drawn maps in Maryland could result in making several current congressional seats held by Democratic members of Congress more vulnerable to being flipped to Republican challengers .
No doubt Ferguson remembers the last time Democrats in Maryland drew new congressional boundaries. A judge ruled that they were invalid because they were not compact and did not consider existing boundaries standards that are mandated by the Maryland Constitution.
Governor Moore has recently said he is exploring a “plan B” to get redrawn map approval back on track. As I write this, he has yet to share details.
A spokesperson for Moore has said Maryland “is going to stay ready” in the face of Republican-led gerrymandering in other states. He also said Moore is “evaluating all responsible options and timelines to protect Marylanders and defend fair representation.”
There is speculation Moore may push for the General Assembly to address Ferguson’s legal concerns by rewriting the current standards in the state constitution for gerrymandering.
The goal would be new standards that are less likely to result in a court ruling that gerrymandered maps are unconstitutional and perhaps follow that ruling with the court drawing new maps.
That strategy requires voter approval of an amendment to the Maryland Constitution in a statewide referendum.
For now, Senate President Ferguson and House of Delegates Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk are not in in agreement on any Plan B that may be presented by Governor Moore.
Ferguson’s current position is, “I don’t know that there is a lot of appetite here about reopening the conversation around redistricting. He has also said “Certainly, we’re monitoring what’s happening, but we’re moving to focus on the issues that we know Marylanders care about.”
Speaker Peña-Melnyk’s current position is, “I’m on plan A. We, [the House of Delegates] passed the bill. The House made it a priority. It is in the Senate, and there’s still time for the bill to pass.”
If nothing further occurs on congressional redistricting in Maryland in 2026, all who supported it will get an A for trying, an F for results, and a participation trophy for their efforts.