By Harold Hutchison
Democratic Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland said Sunday the state could redraw its maps to target Republican Rep. Andy Harris, the only Republican in the state’s congressional delegation.
Democrats have threatened retaliation as the Texas state Senate approved new congressional district maps on Saturday after Democrats from the Texas House of Representatives ended their “quorum break” on Aug. 18. Moore told “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan that “all options are on the table,” including a further redrawing of the lines, when asked how his state might react to the Texas redistricting. (RELATED: It Didn’t Take Long For JD Vance To Dismantle Kristen Welker’s Gotcha Question On Gerrymandering)
“There is one seat here that is actually Republican and it is a seat held by Rep. Andy Harris. Are you considering trying to redraw lines in Maryland?” Brennan asked Moore, who responded, “When I say all options are on the table, all options are on the table.”
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The Texas redistricting could net Republicans up to five seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, helping boost the party’s chances to maintain control of that body in the 2026 midterms. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California is pushing for a new congressional map that would seek to eliminate as many as five seats currently held by Republicans to be approved by voters in response to the Texas redistricting, calling the new maps the “Election Rigging Response Act” in an Aug. 14 press conference.
“Are you actively looking at it now?” Brennan asked, with Moore responding, “Yeah, and I think we have to.”
“You are?” Brennan asked, with Moore saying, “Yes, and I think we have to. Because I think what has happened is this is what people hate with politics in the first place. 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.”
While Democrats won seven of the eight seats in the United States House of Representatives in Maryland, President Donald Trump secured 34.1% of the vote and former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, the GOP’s nominee for the Senate seat vacated by Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin, received 42.8% of the vote. Moore claimed that only one in ten House of Representatives districts across the country are competitive as another reason for trying to gerrymander Harris out of Congress.
“We have to be able to add a measure of fairness in the way it is applied and so, yes, all options need to be on the table in the state of Maryland,” Moore claimed.
Should Moore follow through on the redistricting threat, Maryland would join Massachusetts in having no Republicans in their congressional delegation, despite Republican victories in statewide races since 2000. Despite Republicans Mitt Romney and Charlie Baker winning gubernatorial elections and Scott Brown winning a special U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts, no Republican has been elected to the U.S. House of Representatives since 1996, when then-Republican Reps. Peter Blute and Peter Torkildsen lost reelection bids, according to Ballotpedia. (RELATED: JB Pritzker Ducks Question When Pressed On Illinois Gerrymandering Hypocrisy)
Democrats in Illinois enacted a map before the 2022 midterm elections that eliminated two Republican seats, including one held by then-Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who became an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol building. Illinois, which lost a U.S. House seat in the 2020 census, went from 11 Democrats and seven Republicans following the 2020 election to 14 Democrats and three Republicans in the state’s House of Representatives delegation after the 2022 midterms, according to Ballotpedia.
