Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson (D) said he will not move forward with a mid-cycle redistricting push in his state, warning colleagues that the risk would be “catastrophic.”
In a “Dear Colleagues” letter dated Tuesday, the Democratic leader outlined the reasons he is bucking many of his fellow Democrats who have pushed him to pursue the redistricting effort, citing concerns about the likelihood of success, as well as long-term consequences on democracy.
“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 in the letter, obtained by Politico.
Ferguson added that redistricting battles taking place in states across the country are “at the core” of the “fight for democracy,” and he cast blame directly on President Trump for pressuring GOP-led states, beginning with Texas, “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 wrote.
“The result of this has been an all-out attack on the Democratic Party and the core of democracy,” the state lawmaker continued.
Maryland has eight congressional seats, only one of which is currently held by a Republican, even though, Ferguson noted, 31.5 percent of the state’s registered voters are Republican.
Ferguson said redrawing the map could present legal challenges and it’s unclear how the state’s Supreme Court would rule and whether they would take party affiliation into consideration.
“Simply put, it is too risky and jeopardizes Maryland’s ability to fight against the radical Trump Administration,” he continued in the letter. “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.”
The top Democrat also expressed concern about the long-term damage redistricting could have on democratic institutions. He said he’s spoken to his counterparts in states across the country and it’s become clear to him 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 also nodded to his long-held concerns about a mid-cycle redistricting push in the Old Line State, which, he said, “twists rules for potential short-term advantage while undermining trust in institutions and ultimately, democracy.” He noted that’s not the primary reason for his decision.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) has said he’s actively looking at redistricting, and state House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D) also said she’s “eager” and “willing” to consider the possibility.
