Maryland Senate president departs from state Democrats' push for redistricting

The Maryland state Senate president departed from his fellow state Democrats in their push for redistricting.

Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson told his colleagues in a letter on Tuesday that the risk of redrawing the state's congressional maps before the decennial U.S. Census would be “catastrophic,” The Hill news outlet reported.

“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,” Ferguson wrote in the letter.

The letter comes as both California and Virginia are attempting to implement redistricting plans to make their congressional delegations more Democratic. Meanwhile, Republicans in Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina have redrawn congressional maps at President Trump's urging to help the GOP gain more seats in the House of Representatives next year. Indiana is also calling a special session for redistricting.

Ferguson wrote that the redistricting battles in other states are “at the core” of the “fight for democracy,” and blamed Trump for pushing GOP-led states “to rig the election results against Democrats.”

“In state after state, leaders are considering redrawing congressional maps in the middle of the decade to disenfranchise minority party voters: not because the census changed – not because population shifted — but because political winds did,” he said.

“The result of this has been an all-out attack on the Democratic Party and the core of democracy,” Ferguson continued.

Of Maryland's eight congressional seats, only one is currently held by a Republican, despite the GOP making up 31.5% of registered voters.

The state Senate president also said that there could be legal challenges over redistricting, and it is unclear how the Maryland Supreme Court would rule.

“Simply put, it is too risky and jeopardizes Maryland’s ability to fight against the radical Trump Administration,” Ferguson wrote. “At a time where every seat in Congress matters, the potential for ceding yet another one to Republicans here in Maryland is simply too great.”

He also noted that he’s spoken to his counterparts in other states and that it’s clear that several GOP-run states are “resisting pressure to redistrict and are mostly able to do so because Maryland and other Democratic states are not redistricting either.”

“[I]f Maryland redistricts, Republican-led states that were not planning to do so, will,” Ferguson wrote. “That means that Maryland’s potential gain of one seat is immediately eliminated, and, in fact, worsens the national outlook.”

He added that the early redistricting “twists rules for potential short-term advantage while undermining trust in institutions and ultimately, democracy.”

Maryland state House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D) has said she’s “eager” and “willing” to consider redistricting, while Democratic Gov. Wes Moore has said he’s actively looking at redistricting.