From Maryland leaders like state Sen. Clarence Lam (District 12) and Gov. Wes Moore to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Democrats across the nation are responding after Texas Republicans passed congressional maps in an effort to improve the GOP majority in the House of Representatives.
Lam introduced a bill to change Maryland’s map to one originally proposed in 2021, saying he’s tired of “bringing a pencil to a knife fight.”
“Sadly, Republican lawmakers in other states like Indiana, Missouri, and Ohio are all still heeding Trump’s call. That’s why I’m acting now: I’m filing this bill because we need to fight back by sending a message to these other red states: Don’t do it,” Lam said in a statement. “But if you do pass these extreme gerrymanders, Maryland stands ready to act.”
This map includes a span across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to include portions of Anne Arundel County in the 1st Congressional District, currently represented by U.S. Rep. Andy Harris (R). A cross-bay district has precedent: The 1st District included portions of Anne Arundel County in the 1990s and 2000s, and the entirety of three rural counties in Southern Maryland during the 1970s and 1980s.
Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson (D- District 46) said “nothing can be off the table” in regards to new maps.
Harris welcomes the redistricting attempt, which some allege is an effort to unseat the conservative Eastern Shore congressman. He has called himself “the liaison between the state, the executive branch, and the legislative branch” in a FOX News interview.
Harris believes a gerrymandered map could result in a court-drawn map.
“If the Democrats want to roll the dice, let them roll the dice. I look forward to having more Republican colleagues from the state in Congress, and I think that’s what the result is going to be,” Harris said in a statement.
Governors Push Back
Similar to Ferguson’s outlook on redistricting, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) has said that “all options are on the table.”
“The fact that the president of the United States — very similar to what he did in Georgia, where he called up a series of voter registrants and said, ‘I need you to find me more votes’ — we’re watching the same thing now, where he’s calling up legislatures around the country and saying, ‘I need you to find me more congressional districts,” Moore said in an interview with The Hill.
Although Moore has not yet formally called for a special session to implement new maps, Newsom (D) has called for a November referendum to alter the state’s congressional boundaries.
In turn, Assemblyman James Gallagher (R-Calif.) proposed to divide California into two separate states.
“Donald Trump, you have poked the bear and we will punch back. Don’t mess with the great Golden State,” said Newsom during a rally to announce the referendum.