Maryland Republicans sue to stop voters from weighing in on Democrats’ redistricting plan

Maryland Republicans filed a lawsuit late Thursday to block voters from weighing in this November on a redistricting plan proposed by Democrats. If voters were to approve the measure, it would allow the state’s Democratic-controlled legislature to redraw Maryland’s congressional map to counter recent GOP gerrymanders ahead of the 2028 presidential election.

Earlier this week, the Maryland General Assembly passed a constitutional amendment during a special session to change the rules for congressional redistricting. But the measure can’t take effect until voters weigh in on the change.

The lawsuit, filed by a right-wing advocacy group on behalf of the far-right Maryland Freedom Caucus, argues that the proposed amendment isn’t lawful because lawmakers passed it after a July 1 deadline for certifying ballot questions for November. The suit asks the court to block the redistricting measure from appearing on the general election ballot in November. 

“Annapolis Democrats spent taxpayer dollars on a Special Session for one reason: to rewrite the Maryland Constitution and eliminate the last remaining Republican congressional seat,” Del. Matt Morgan (R), Chairman of the Maryland Freedom Caucus, said in a statement. “Like a banana republic, they suspended the rules, ignored statutory deadlines, and treated the Constitution as an obstacle to be removed. Our Declaration of Rights exists to protect the people from politicians who undermine free and fair elections.”

Maryland Democrats first tried to pass a new congressional map earlier this year to counteract a slew of GOP gerrymanders carried out across the country at the demand of President Donald Trump. But that effort died in the state Senate over legal concerns: In 2022, a state court had struck down a Democratic-drawn map as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander under the Maryland constitution. The state’s constitution sets specific standards for drawing new maps to prevent partisan gerrymandering.

The new amendment clarifies that these standards should only apply to state legislative districts, not congressional ones. 

Democrats currently hold seven of Maryland’s eight U.S. House seats. Should voters approve the measure, it would allow Democrats to dismantle the Eastern Shore-based 1st Congressional District, long represented by Rep. Andy Harris (R). 

“There’s a reason why the Eastern Shore is more beautiful and happy than the crime dens around other parts of Maryland,” Oversight Project President Mike Howell said in a statement. “The people deserve representation to keep it that way instead of following the path of Mandami [sic], El-Sayed, Ocasio Cortes [sic] and the other communists that Governor Wes Moore is trying to catch up to as he readies his run for President.”

Gov. Wes Moore (D), who pushed the Assembly to take action on redistricting, defended the measure.

“I continue to believe that our country needs national redistricting reform,” Moore said in a statement earlier this week. “But until that happens, inaction is not an option. Maryland will not be caught flat-footed while Republicans engage in political redlining that guts decades of progress that the generations before us fought for. By passing this constitutional amendment, the General Assembly has ensured that Maryland remains committed to being part of that conversation—and that the final decision will rest where it belongs: with the people of Maryland.”