State Senate leader Bill Ferguson says Maryland won't draw new congressional maps

BALTIMORE — Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson said this week that the state’s General Assembly will not move forward with efforts to redraw congressional maps before the 2030 U.S. Census, citing steep legal and political risks tied to a mid-decade redistricting.

In a letter to his fellow Democratic lawmakers Tuesday, Ferguson said the decision was made following individual conversations with senators who expressed concerns about national redistricting efforts and pressure to counter map changes by Republicans in Texas and other GOP-led states.

“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.

Redistricting, which states undertake every 10 years to reflect population changes, often draws legal challenges and accusations of “gerrymandering” — the manipulation of district boundaries to give one political party more seats in the House of Representatives.

In deep-blue Maryland, debate continues over how congressional district lines should be drawn. With seven Democratic-leaning districts and just one Republican-leaning House district, Maryland was ranked as the country’s second-most gerrymandered state by Independent Voter News in August — trailing only North Carolina.

Democratic Gov. Wes Moore has said for several months that “all options are on the table” when it comes to mid-decade redistricting. He suggested that President Donald Trump bears some responsibility for the broader national fights over congressional representation, as Texas Republicans drew new maps in their favor — which then sparked California and other states to retaliate.

Moore had not yet spoken publicly about Ferguson’s letter as of Wednesday morning. His office did not respond to The Baltimore Sun’s questions about his reaction to the letter and if he would respect Ferguson’s decision by not lobbying the Legislature to pursue redistricting until after the 2030 U.S. Census.

State Sen. Antonio Hayes, a West Baltimore Democrat, told the Sun on Wednesday that Ferguson’s letter makes mid-decade redistricting a “dead issue” in the state. Asked if he expects Moore to push back on the Legislature, Hayes described the governor as a “fighter” who wants to see redistricting changes that benefit Democrats.

“I wouldn’t imagine that there wouldn’t be any pushback, but I think he’s also realistic and understands the importance of the relationship between the Legislature and the (executive) branch,” Hayes said. “But I think he, like all of us, would hope that we could do something that could have an impact (and) balance and things at the federal level.”

While she is not a member of the Maryland Senate, Montgomery County Delegate Jheanelle Wilkins criticized Ferguson’s decision for “missing the moment” amid Republican-led redistricting efforts around the country.

“Our democracy is at stake in a real way, and we have an obligation to make sure district lines truly reflect our communities,” Wilkins said in a statement. “At a time when voting rights, diversity, and basic freedoms are under assault, Maryland must step up to ensure we have the strongest and most representative government possible.”

Ferguson, a Baltimore Democrat, said revisiting congressional boundaries could expose Maryland’s current map to new legal challenges and possibly lead to court-ordered revisions less favorable to Democrats.

He pointed to Szeliga v. Lamone, a 2022 redistricting case in which a judge struck down an earlier map as “a product of extreme partisan gerrymandering.” The Legislature later approved a revised version, which went unchallenged and remains in effect.

Ferguson noted that, because the state’s highest court has never reviewed the current map, reopening the process could invite litigation and uncertainty ahead of the 2026 elections. A new round of lawsuits, he said, could delay filing deadlines and force changes to the primary schedule.

“Any redrawing of the current map could reopen the ability for someone to challenge the current map and give the court the opportunity to strike it down, or even worse, redraw the map itself,” he wrote.

Maryland’s only Republican in Congress, Eastern Shore Rep. Andy Harris, largely agreed with Ferguson, telling the Sun on Wednesday that any mid-decade redistricting effort would “open the potential for a court-imposed non-partisan map that could result in two or even three Republicans being elected.”

“Senate President Ferguson’s letter confirms what we’ve known all along: Reasonable Democrats in Maryland increasingly see no benefit in reopening a process that would highlight just how unfair and politically motivated Maryland’s district lines have been for years,” Harris said in an emailed statement.

Ferguson cautioned that if Maryland pursued mid-cycle redistricting, it could spur more Republican-controlled states to do the same, erasing any potential gain from drawing Harris out of his seat.

The Senate president cited national data showing Republican legislatures oversee more Democratic-held districts than the reverse, giving the GOP a greater opportunity to benefit from new maps. He said previous Democratic restraint has helped keep some Republican states from redrawing their own lines.

He also referenced concerns raised by Maryland’s Legislative Black Caucus about racial fairness in redistricting, warning that mid-decade gerrymandering could lead to the same voter disenfranchisement that racial gerrymandering caused in the past.

Ferguson framed the decision as both a legal and moral one, arguing that Maryland should not “twist rules for potential short-term advantage while undermining trust in institutions and ultimately, democracy.” Instead of redistricting, he said lawmakers should focus on legislative priorities such as health care access, election protection and support for immigrants during the 2026 session.

“I am prepared to do that alongside each and every one of you,” Ferguson wrote at the end of the letter.

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