The gerrymandering battle has begun with Texas Republicans and California Democrats planning to carve out more seats for their parties in the House of Representatives. In Maryland that battle could see the elimination of the sole Republican seat now occupied by congressman Andy Harris. Delmarva Public Media's Kevin Diaz has this report.
RUSH: The battle for control of Congress has come down to redistricting. This is Don Rush. While Texas carves out five additional Republican seats, Democrats in Maryland are looking at eliminating the last GOP stronghold on the Eastern shore. Delmarva Public Media's Republic Media's Kevin Diaz has this look at the rising conflict.
DIAZ: Long abandoned by Democrats as a Republican stronghold, Maryland east of the Bay Bridge remains the state's only district represented in the US House by a Republican: Andy Harris. The other seven are relatively solid democratic districts giving Maryland a distinctly blue color on national election maps. But now Governor West Moore wants to take another look and see if Harris's first congressional district can be redrawn to make it more competitive for Democrats, this was Moore on Face the Nation.
MOORE: All options need to be on the table. In the state of Maryland.
DIAZ: Redistricting normally happens every 10 years and then only after a federal census or population count. But this doesn't come out of the blue. Republicans in Texas have engaged in a bitterly contested mid decade redistricting push and GOP leaders in other states are considering doing the same. In response, some Democrats are saying they need to fight fire with fire. California Governor Gavin Newsom is leading that charge. So that brings us to Maryland, which with a seven to one democratic advantage in the US House, would seem an unlikely pickup opportunity for Democrats. The last time Democrats tried redistricting was in 2022. The court struck it down as a partisan gerrymander, but Moore, who's often whispered as a 2028 presidential candidate says he wants to try it again.
MOORE: And we also need to make sure that if the President of the United States is putting his finger on the scale to try to manipulate elections, then it behooves each and every one of us to be able to keep all options on the table to ensure that the voters' voices can actually be heard.
DIAZ: Critics say more is playing with fire. Many voters, particularly independents, don't like the sound of gerrymandering, which is essentially the practice of politicians choosing their voters rather than the other way around. Plus, some say that moving the district boundaries could backfire diluting some democratic districts and making them more competitive for Republicans. Congressman Andy Harris told ABC News in Baltimore [that] he knows his district is in the crosshairs.
HARRIS: Well, of course it's being targeted. This is a stunning reversal from what the governor talked about in his inaugural address when he talked about toxic partisanship and reaching across the aisle. But look, he's running for president. I get it. But the bottom line is, in Maryland we've had Republican governors. Two of the last four governors have been Republicans. So "fair" would be, well, maybe we should have four and four in our congressional delegation instead of seven and one.
DIAZ: Harris argues that if fairness is really the aim, the Eastern Shore is on balance [and] a pretty conservative part of the state. Trump won there by 57% of the vote last year.
HARRIS: Absolutely. There's no question that the eastern part of the state (and I represent the entire eastern part of the state up to the eastern edge of Baltimore County) is a relatively conservative area, and it should be represented by a Republican. I get why the Democrats want to do it. They think seven to one is not a good enough margin for them. They want eight to nothing. But again, for a state that has elected a Republican governor, two of the last four, the bottom line is that that would not be a fair map. And if what the governor wants is a fair map, it should be five to three or six to two.
DIAZ: The first district was briefly in Democratic hands until 2010 when Harris defeated incumbent Democrat, Frank Kratovil. It's been smooth sailing for Harris ever since. With Trump-Aligned Republicans revisiting their congressional maps in Texas, Florida, and other states, Moore says Maryland should do the same with an eye on the Eastern Shore. A proposal to do just that was filed recently in Annapolis by Democratic State Senator Clarence Lam. He told CBS News in Baltimore that Democrats have little choice.
LAM: We're not taking the initiative to do this because we want to. We're doing this because we have to. In response to President Trump's demands.
DIAZ: Whether the courts or the legislature will go along remains to be seen. This is Kevin Diaz for Delmarva Public Media.
