ANNAPOLIS — U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries traveled to Annapolis Wednesday to urge the Maryland Senate to approve a proposed mid-decade congressional redistricting plan.
Jeffries, who met with Gov. Wes Moore, House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melynk and Senate President Bill Ferguson, all fellow Democrats, said the party must not “unilaterally disarm” itself by not approving a new map.
“A strong, forceful Democratic response is necessary to the unprecedented efforts by Donald Trump and Republicans to gerrymander congressional maps in red states across the country, with the sole intention of rigging the midterm elections,” Jeffries, of New York, told reporters after the morning meetings.
Maryland’s House of Delegates passed a bill earlier this month to approve a new congressional district map, which would redraw the state’s only Republican-held seat to be more favorable to Democrats and could potentially lead to an entirely Democratic congressional delegation. The effort has stalled in the Senate.
Ferguson, of Baltimore City, opposes the plan. He warned that it could backfire, leading to Democrats losing seats instead. He said a new map would likely face a legal challenge and would not be finalized in time to not disrupt the election cycle.
Jeffries described his meeting with Ferguson as a “productive exchange of ideas and perspectives,” but did not comment on whether the senate president changed his position.
In a statement following the visit to Annapolis, Jeffries called on the Senate to hold an “immediate up-or-down vote” to gauge support for the bill.
Ferguson said he appreciated meeting with Jeffries.
“It’s precisely because we want Leader Jeffries in the majority that most members in the Maryland Senate Democratic Caucus do not support moving forward with mid-cycle redistricting that will backfire in our State courts and lose Democrats in Congress,” Ferguson said in a statement.
He noted that, in addition to redistricting, the two discussed responding to the “lawless Trump Administration” through policies on economic, social and immigration issues.
Some Republican lawmakers slammed the redistricting plan as unconstitutional and “behind closed-doors political theater.”
Del. Kathy Szeliga, R-Baltimore County, said the redistricting bill “is nothing more than an effort to disenfranchise millions of Maryland voters who do not vote for Democrats.”
“It’s ridiculous, and the House of Delegates bill will not pass because Marylanders know this is wrong for our state,” said Szeliga, vice chair of the conservative Maryland Freedom Caucus. “D.C. politicians should go back to D.C. and worry about things on their plate.”
Last summer, the Texas legislature approved a new partisan congressional map that aims to flip five seats currently held by Democrats, triggering a wave of states across the country to implement their own redistricting plans. California responded by proposing its own new congressional map targeting five Republican seats. Missouri, Ohio, North Carolina and Virginia have all approved new maps in the past year as well, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
A key deadline for Maryland’s redistricting plan looms early next week. Candidates seeking to run for election this November have until Tuesday at 9 p.m. to file required documents.
But Jeffries said Democrats can’t “impose deadlines on ourselves.”
Jeffries added that the proposed map would create three to four districts that are competitive for both parties each cycle.
“Republicans know that if it’s a free and fair election, they’re going down in flames in the November midterms, which is the sole reason why they’re trying to gerrymander congressional maps across the country and expect that Democrats are going to simply unilaterally disarm,” Jeffries said in the State House. “Our perspective is clear. When they go low, we strike back hard in the best interest of the people of Maryland and in the best interest of the people of the United States.”
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