Maryland’s House of Delegates on Monday approved a new congressional map in a mid-decade redistricting effort Democrats hope will make it easier to defeat Republican Rep. Andy Harris, who represents the state’s only GOP-held U.S. House seat. The House vote, however, faces a likely roadblock in the state Senate, where leadership has told lawmakers since October that the bill does not have enough support to move forward.
The measure was developed in response to redistricting actions in other states and at the urging of Democratic Gov. Wes Moore, who pushed for Maryland to consider changing congressional districts even though the state’s last redistricting process was not yet scheduled to be replaced. Democrats argued the new boundaries are designed to improve their chances in the 2026 election cycle and to expand their hold across the state’s U.S. House delegation.
Democrats currently have a 7-1 advantage over Republicans in Maryland’s U.S. House seats, and the new map would make it easier, according to Democratic supporters, for them to win all eight seats by weakening the district held by Harris. In the four-hour debate Monday, Democrats focused on national politics, criticizing President Donald Trump’s presidency as they advanced the bill.
Del. C.T. Wilson, a Democrat who sponsored the bill containing the map’s new boundaries, said the measure was needed “to help ensure that this administration finally has a Congress that puts his power in check.” Republicans opposed the new map and highlighted concerns about how Harris’ district would change, including a proposal for the district—described by opponents as anchored in the largely rural Eastern Shore—to expand across the Chesapeake Bay to draw in more Democratic voters.
Del. Jason Buckel, a western Maryland Republican and House minority leader, argued on Monday that the effort was not about election fundamentals. “It is about nothing except party politics,” Buckel said during the debate. Del. Marc Korman, a Democrat from the Montgomery County suburbs near Washington, countered that the district has crossed the bay multiple times since the 1960s and said it has been extended over the Chesapeake Bay by court order at least once, while noting that five different Republicans still won the seat, including Harris.
Senate President Bill Ferguson, a Baltimore Democrat, has consistently opposed mid-decade redistricting efforts aimed at flipping Harris’ seat and has warned that the approach could put Democratic seats at risk. Ferguson pointed to the history of Maryland’s congressional map changes, saying a congressional map adopted in 2021 was ruled unconstitutional by a judge who described it as “a product of extreme partisan gerrymandering,” and he said that if lawmakers redraw districts again it could lead to additional legal challenges and potentially court-imposed districts.
Ferguson’s spokesman, David Schuhlein, said Monday that his opposition has not changed. The Senate president also raised concerns about timing disruptions, saying the election calendar could be affected due to expected litigation, including Maryland’s Feb. 24 candidate filing deadline and a June 23 primary. At the national level, the redistricting fight has already produced additional seat changes that Republicans believe they can win in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio, while Democrats think they can win in California and Utah.
Democrats hope to make up a three-seat margin in Virginia as well, but that process has also met legal resistance: a judge recently ruled that Democratic redistricting efforts there were illegal, and lawmakers have appealed. As in Virginia, redistricting is still being litigated in several states, and there is no guarantee that parties will win the seats they have redrawn. Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, meanwhile, plans to call a special session on redistricting in April.