Maryland Lawmaker Introduces Bill to Redraw Congressional Districts

The state’s sole GOP seat, held by House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, could be threatened if the state moves ahead with redistricting.

The Maryland state Capitol in Annapolis. Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

A lawmaker from Maryland has introduced legislation to redraw the Democrat-dominated Old Line State’s congressional maps, potentially marking the latest escalation in a national battle over redistricting.

“I submitted this because we need to fight back by sending a message to other states,” state Sen. Clarence Lam, whose district includes the outskirts of Baltimore, wrote in a thread on X announcing the legislation.

Under his proposal, the state’s single Republican congressman, House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, would be more likely to lose his seat.

The redrawn map would divide Harris’s district—which sits across the Chesapeake Bay and encompasses the state’s Republican-friendly eastern border with Delaware—and extend its western border to the suburbs of Baltimore, a Democrat-heavy region.

Lam also said: “The path to redistricting Maryland won’t be easy. But we have to start somewhere, and we have to start now.”

In the announcement, he referenced the possibility of Republican-led states such as Missouri and Indiana redrawing their maps in Republicans’ favor after first Texas Republicans, then California Democrats, moved forward with legislation to redistrict their states in favor of their party ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Thus far, those two states are the only ones that have moved forward with their redistricting plans.

As early as July, Maryland House Majority Leader David Moon, a Democrat, had proposed similar legislation after President Donald Trump voiced support for redrawing the congressional maps in red states.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, has also indicated openness to modifying the state’s congressional boundaries.

Asked about the broader national issue during an Aug. 24 appearance on “Face the Nation,” Moore was noncommittal but suggested that Maryland would “keep all options on the table” if other Republican states move to follow Texas’s lead.

“I want to make sure that we have fair lines and fair seats, where we don’t have situations where politicians are choosing voters,” Moore said. “We also need to make sure that the president of the United States is not putting his finger on the scale to try to manipulate elections.”

Texas’s redrawn maps would modify five districts currently held by Democrats to increase Republicans’ chances.

Texas Republicans said redistricting is necessary and legal because some of the state’s congressional districts were found to be likely unconstitutional by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in early July. The DOJ said four Texas districts were in violation of the Voting Rights Act and the 14th Amendment because of their grouping of minorities.

Democrats said Texas’s redistricting plan would disenfranchise minority voters and undermine the Voting Rights Act.

The Cook Political Report downgraded Texas Democrats’ chances in the redrawn districts, although the fight for the seat currently held by Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) remains a toss-up.

In response, at the urging of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, the California Legislature passed a bill to authorize a referendum that would let voters approve Democrat-proposed maps that could threaten five districts currently held by Republicans.

Lawmakers in other states—including the GOP-led states of Florida, Ohio, Missouri, and Indiana, and the Democrat-led states of New York and Illinois—have expressed interest in similar moves.