MD Republicans sue Moore, elections officials over redistricting ballot question

Republican officials filed a lawsuit Thursday in an effort to prevent the congressional redistricting referendum that legislators passed this week from appearing on November ballots.

“Annapolis Democrats spent taxpayer dollars on a special session for one reason: to rewrite the Maryland Constitution and eliminate the last remaining Republican congressional seat,” Del. Matt Morgan, a St. Mary’s County Republican and chair of the Maryland Freedom Caucus, said in a statement Thursday evening. “Like a banana republic, they suspended the rules, ignored statutory deadlines, and treated the Constitution as an obstacle to be removed.”

Filed in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court, the lawsuit is being brought by the Maryland Freedom Caucus including Morgan and Dels. Kathy Szeliga, R-Baltimore County; Robin Grammer Jr., R-Baltimore County; Ryan Nawrocki, R-Baltimore County; Brian Chisholm, R-Anne Arundel; Lauren Arikan, R-Harford; and Mark Fisher, R-Calvert. 

Senate Minority Leader Stephen S. Hershey Jr., R-Upper Eastern Shore; Senate Minority Whip Justin Ready, R-Carroll and Frederick; and Mike Howell, president of the conservative nonprofit Oversight Project, are also plaintiffs.

They are suing Democratic Gov. Wes Moore, Secretary of State Susan Lee, Maryland Elections Administrator Jared DeMarinis, Attorney General Anthony Brown and the Maryland State Board of Elections.

On Tuesday, the Maryland General Assembly approved legislation to allow voters to determine if the state constitution should be amended to give congressional districts different requirements from ones for the state legislature. 

If OKed by voters in November, the legislature would have sole authority to configure congressional districts as long as they adhere to standards under federal law. Any map could be challenged, but the General Assembly would have the ability to bump lawsuits directly up to the state Supreme Court.

“Put frankly, the drafters of this language want the Secretary of State and State Board of Elections to ignore all of Maryland Election Laws that govern constitutional amendments for the ballot referendum for HB 2100; that is constitutionally impermissible,” reads the complaint provided to The Daily Record on Friday.

Plaintiffs are also alleging that the legislation violates the Maryland Constitution’s requirement that every law entertain only one subject, as well as the due-process clause.

Additionally, the plaintiffs argue that the process of putting a constitutional amendment before voters has been muddied by Moore’s signature, which they allege signifies that it is “an ordinary law,” the complaint reads. Although it was procedurally unnecessary for a ballot question, Moore; Senate President Bill Ferguson, D-Baltimore City; and House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk, D-Anne Arundel and Prince George’s, signed the bill during a ceremony Wednesday.

In a statement to The Daily Record on Friday, Ammar Moussa, a Moore spokesperson, said the administration is “confident” that the General Assembly acted within its constitutional authority.

“This lawsuit seeks to prevent Marylanders from having their say at the ballot box, and we will vigorously defend their right to do so,” Moussa wrote.

The legislation was brought forth by Democratic leadership because former Maryland Supreme Court Judge Lynne A. Battaglia ruled in 2022 that congressional districts should be “geographically contiguous” and “compact.”

Asked Tuesday why the legislation was brought four years afterward, Senate President Bill Ferguson, D-Baltimore City, said presiding officers had discussed addressing the issue before 2030, when regularly scheduled redistricting was to occur after the U.S. Census, but became relevant after President Donald Trump had instructed Texas to redraw its congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterm election to gain more Republican seats in congress.

“This is the time we had to act to make sure that we were in a position of strength, no matter where we are moving forward — not a position of weakness,” Ferguson said.

The legislation was debated for hours Monday and Tuesday, with Republicans arguing that the Democratic supermajority was flouting several of the state’s election laws, including one that went into effect after being unanimously passed during the 2026 legislative session. This provision was tacked on as a technical amendment before the bill hit either chamber floor for debate.

Under Senate Bill 29, which went into effect June 1, ballot questions are to be written in plain language and must be prepared and certified by government entities by July 1. Additionally, the Maryland State Board of Elections must allow for a 15-day period for public comment.

But House Bill 2100, passed during the August special session largely along party lines, exempts that to allow the question to be on the ballot during the General Election.

Democratic leadership at several points during the special session clarified that the legislation does not reconfigure district lines or implement a new map ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Immediately after the special session had adjourned, Hershey said he and Ready had been in conversation regarding filing a lawsuit to “try to put any type of delay that we can because … this was done at the last minute.”

“This did not need to be done this year,” Hershey said. “If you hold the Democrats true to what they’re saying, this is not about maps this year.”

Peña-Melnyk said Tuesday that she can’t control whether a lawsuit would be filed but that, if approved by voters, the measure would provide “clarity as to the way the standard is treated the way it has been done historically.”

Ahead of the filing, Ferguson said the legislation “keeps existing law whole in that it says that the U.S. Constitution and federal laws are what apply to congressional maps.”

“It is an important standard that, whether it’s in the near-term or long-term, that we have clarity as to what the rules of the road are for redistricting,” he said.

Howell railed against Democrats in a Thursday statement, saying their plan is to make the Eastern Shore like the “crime dens” around Baltimore and Prince George’s County. He accused Moore of “following the path of [New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani], [Democratic U.S. Senate nominee for Michigan Abdul El-Sayed], [New York U.S. Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] and the other communists …”

Multiple Freedom Caucus members posted social media messages Friday directed at Moore: “See you in court.” 

This story has been updated.