Redistricting unlikely to move forward in MD Senate, Ferguson says

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Senate President Bill Ferguson said Tuesday that the bill to redraw Maryland’s congressional map ahead of the 2026 primary election will not advance — in so many words.

“We don’t have a habit in the Senate of moving forward things that don’t have an opportunity,” Ferguson, D-Baltimore City, said as he addressed the news media Tuesday.

Asked directly, the Senate president would not say outright that the bill is “dead.”

On Monday, the House of Delegates passed House Bill 488, which would redraw the boundaries of Maryland’s eight congressional districts ahead of the 2026 midterm election. It would also put forth a ballot referendum to allow Maryland voters to determine if the new map should only remain in effect for the 2026 election or if it would also apply in 2028 and 2030.

A new map would be drawn after the 2030 census.

The bill passed after nearly four hours of emotional debate.

“They literally flood the zone, one absurd act after another — hope you don’t notice, that you’re overwhelmed. Make you tired, make you quit, make you forget about the Epstein files,” Del. C.T. Wilson, D-Charles, said Monday. “Every day, we see people answering these tests with unbelievable courage. We face this test now. Our people — voters in Maryland — will have their precious right to be heard in the halls of Congress.”

House Bill 488 passed out of the chamber on a vote of 99-37. 

In an appearance on MSNOW with House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk, D-Anne Arundel and Prince George’s, Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat said his ask to the Senate chamber is to “just do as the House has done.”

“Debate the maps, discuss the maps, and then take the vote,” Moore said. “That is democracy, and you can’t claim that you are defending democracy if you are trying to quiet democracy.”

In an oppositional stance, Ferguson said Tuesday that midcycle redistricting is not good for democracy and is a distraction from matters that directly impact his constituents, such as housing, energy costs, prescription drug affordability and protection from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“Midcycle redistricting — both historically and now — is a path toward mutually assured destruction,” he said. “What I know is that when I am in my community and when I am talking to my constituents, they are not talking about this.”

The bill is now in the Senate Rules Committee, where “it’ll sit,” Ferguson said.

The Senate president has been in staunch opposition to midcycle redistricting as far back as the fall, when he sent a letter to his Democratic caucus stating that the “timeline for action is dangerous” and “the certainty of our existing map would be undermined.”

Ferguson said Tuesday that action on midcycle redistricting would have had to be taken “at least three to four months” prior to the Feb. 23 campaign filing date.

“That’s direct advice from the attorney general, who says they cannot file for election until they have a settled map, and that means all litigation is concluded. The average timeline for that is three to four months,” Ferguson said. “We’re sitting here on Feb. 3, three weeks away from the filing deadline.”

“If this were back in August, September, October, that is when we would be approaching a timeline that would not massively disrupt the current ’26 election cycle,” he said, noting that a push to move the map forward now could result in a June filing deadline and September primary election.

Ferguson added that the required timeline would bump up against federal law because the state needs adequate time to send overseas ballots.

“Adding more uncertainty and chaos to Maryland’s election cycle does nothing to further democracy,” Ferguson said. “It gives more opportunity to challenge and put into question our elections, which should be unquestionable given the professionalism of the Board of Elections and local boards.”

Moore said Monday evening that he has “been working with lawyers” — including former Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, who sat on the Governor’s Redistricting Advisory Commission — and “judges” who feel the “legal challenges are not founded” and that the state not only has “the authority” to move ahead with a new map, but a “responsibility.”

“We know that the bill that was just passed by the House that is now moving onto the Senate, it doesn’t just stand on strong legal footing, it stands on strong moral footing and it understands the urgency of this moment,” Moore said.