Maryland moves closer to special session on congressional redistricting

Maryland Democrats are in discussions to hold a special legislative session this summer to address legal roadblocks to redrawing the state’s congressional districts.

Senate President Bill Ferguson, who has blocked redistricting efforts over the last several months, says he’s having “active conversations” about bringing lawmakers back to Annapolis to take up the matter.

Ferguson said in a statement Friday he would consider amendments to the state constitution to remove language a judge cited when blocking a set of maps last time around. The constitution includes provisions that districts must be compact and take into consideration natural boundaries and the boundaries of cities and counties.

“Maryland must respond as the ground shifts under us,” Ferguson, a Democrat, said in his statement.

In the statement and in an interview with WYPR radio, Ferguson referenced an April ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court that gutted parts of the Voting Rights Act and opened the door for Republican-led states to gerrymander.

Ferguson’s statement indicated a potential special session of the General Assembly would come after the June 23 primary elections.

That represents a shift in position for the Senate president, who told The Banner on May 13 that it was “way too early to say” whether there would be a special session this summer.

“We’re going to talk to caucus members and figure out after the election [the next steps],” Ferguson said at the time.

Ferguson’s shifting stance comes as he’s facing criticism on redistricting from his primary opponent, Robert “Bobby” LaPin, a small business owner and social media personality.

LaPin has shoehorned redistricting into messaging about a cross section of topics — even the Key Bridge.

“Instead of arguing with the governor over redistricting, maybe you could have worked better with him on rebuilding the bridge and getting it done quickly,” LaPin said at a recent candidates forum in Locust Point.

Ferguson’s redistricting position also had put him at odds with Democratic Gov. Wes Moore, testing their relationship. Moore pulled back from an endorsement agreement with Ferguson over the matter this month.

Any change to the state constitution would need to be sent to Maryland voters for approval, likely in the November general election. That could give lawmakers a freer hand in redrawing districts ahead of the 2028 election, with less worry of courts striking down new maps.

Democrats have eyed Maryland as a chance to pick up one additional seat friendly to their party as states have duked it out in a gerrymandering battle over the past year. Seven of the eight U.S. House of Representatives members from Maryland are Democrats; the lone Republican is U.S. Rep. Andy Harris.

Ferguson’s statement addressed only the constitutional questions, not map drawing itself.

Moore, a proponent of redistricting, responded that any special session should also include the consideration of new maps.

“I’m glad to hear the Senate president is willing to have a conversation about it,” Moore told reporters Friday in Western Maryland. “I think it needs to include the maps.”

It would be legally difficult for politicians to redraw the maps in the midst of the 2026 election cycle. When pressed by a Maryland Matters reporter over whether he thought redrawing for 2026 was possible, Moore said: “We are watching how states around the country are blowing up their entire process to rig the rules.”

“I think that we need to get together and we need to take this moment seriously, and I think all the options are going to be on the table,” he added.

House of Delegates Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk, also a Democrat, has long supported redistricting. Her office issued a statement that reiterated her position.

Earlier this year, when Moore proposed a map to skew the boundaries of Harris’s Eastern Shore-based district across the Chesapeake Bay and pick up Democratic voters in Central Maryland, the House approved the map before it stalled in the Senate. The map would have been in place for this year’s election.

The House then offered a redistricting Plan B in March: Change the language in the state constitution to enable future map redrawing — strikingly similar to the idea that Ferguson is now embracing. But Ferguson and the majority Senate didn’t support it at the time.

“Everyone knows where the House stands on the issue ... With the Supreme Court’s gutting of the Voting Rights Act, the urgency is only greater, and the House stands ready to act to protect voters and strengthen our democracy,” Peña-Melnyk’s statement said.

Banner reporter Brenda Wintrode contributed to this article.

This article has been updated.