The rush toward extreme gerrymandering ahead of the 2026 midterms has already sullied the country’s electoral system and will make Congress less representative of the people. Next month, Maryland voters have the chance to stop their state from joining the race to the bottom.
The midterm ballot includes a referendum to change the Maryland Constitution so that Democrats in the legislature can redraw the state’s maps for 2028 to get rid of the only Republican in the eight-member House delegation. More than a third of Maryland’s voters backed Republican candidates in House elections two years ago.
The existing map was already drawn to ensure the majority party exercises disproportionate control. Republicans once held a district centered in the state’s conservative western panhandle, but Democrats added blue chunks of Montgomery County to flip the seat after the 2010 Census. A 6-2 split would be objectively fairer than 8-0.
Democrats say the amendment is necessary because a court struck down a similar scheme in 2022. Plaintiffs argued persuasively in that case that a new map violated the state constitution’s requirement that legislative districts remain “compact” and respect natural and political boundaries. The ballot measure would set aside those requirements by “clarifying” that the constitution applies only to state legislative districts, not federal ones.
Gov. Wes Moore (D), cruising to an easy reelection, is championing the ballot measure. He and other Democrats make no secret of their aim is to get rid of Rep. Andy Harris (R), who represents Maryland’s very conservative Eastern Shore.
Even with a midterms blue wave apparently looming, voters seem skeptical of the ballot measure. A poll released this month by the Institute of Politics at the University of Maryland Baltimore County found that 53 percent of likely voters opposed the amendment. Only 25 percent were in favor.
Proponents grumble that the underwhelming enthusiasm is due to the difficult-to-understand wording of the question, which was rewritten by the state Supreme Court. But Marylanders would be right to reject the partisan power grab purely on the merits.
Democrats are justifiably angry with how gerrymandering played out in other states this cycle. Texas Republicans, pushed by President Donald Trump, kicked off the redistricting wars last summer, and the GOP managed to redraw maps in a handful of other states. Democrats attempted to do the same and passed a referendum in California. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report predicts that Republicans will probably net around four seats from redistricting but that Democrats are still favored to win the House.
Trying to even the score on a state-by-state basis, however, is a fool’s errand. It’s possible that Republican-drawn maps spread their supporters too thin to withstand a great environment for Democrats. A few GOP incumbents may unexpectedly lose in redrawn districts next month, including in Texas and North Carolina. The redrawn maps might be based on faulty GOP assumptions about Hispanic voters, based on how they voted in 2024. That could end up backfiring — it’s called a dummymander.
More important, gerrymandering to achieve fairness at the national level means disenfranchising voters at the state level. We have consistently criticized both parties for ignoring this fact, and we have praised the few state leaders on both sides who have resisted the pull of partisan gamesmanship. That included Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson (D), before he flipped to support gerrymandering in May.
Progressives in the Old Line State who detest Trump’s tactics should resist the temptation to mimic them. Rejecting this ballot measure offers an opportunity to uphold the foundational American principle that the people, not politicians, should choose their representatives.
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