MD Republicans blast Wes Moore over his redistricting push

Cracks are widening in Gov. Wes Moore’s relationship with the Maryland Senate as he continues to push the chamber to move forward with midcycle redistricting.

“…[N]ormally in the Senate, it’s the Democrat versus Republican. What I’m noticing now is he is changing the dynamic to the Senate versus Moore,” Sen. J.B. Jennings, R-Baltimore County, said Thursday morning. “Should he get another four years, I think it’s going to make his term … much harder working with the Senate with the way he’s handling this.”

In his State of the State address Wednesday, Moore, a Democrat, made a direct, public appeal to Senate President Bill Ferguson, D-Baltimore City, to bring the redistricting bill that passed out of the House chamber earlier this month to the floor for a vote.

The legislation would not only reconfigure the state’s congressional boundaries but would also put forth a ballot referendum to allow Maryland voters to determine if that map should only remain in effect for the 2026 election, or if it would also apply in 2028 and 2030.

“I know there’s disagreement right now between the House and members of the Senate, so my ask is simple: Do not let the democratic process die in the free state. Debate it, discuss it, make adjustments if necessary. And put it to a vote,” Moore said, prompting boos from some lawmakers in the chamber.

The governor and Senate president shook hands, which Ferguson’s spokesman David Schuhlein described as an act of decorum.

Addressing reporters after Wednesday’s speech, Schuhlein said that Moore’s words “could be described by some as an escalation.”

As passed by the House, the bill is slated to hand Democrats an 8-0 map in what Republicans are calling an attempt to eliminate Congressman Andy Harris, the lone Republican in the congressional delegation and an ally of President Donald Trump.

“To say you’re ‘saving democracy’ by eliminating the only Minority Party member of a 10-member congressional delegation — it really should be laughed out of the room,” said Senate Minority Whip Justin Ready, R-Carroll and Frederick. “If this was a 5-3 map, I think it’d be a totally different conversation — we’d still be against it, but it’d be a totally different conversation.”

Moore has been leaning on members of the Senate to push the bill out of the Rules Committee for a vote. He has been joined by the organization Black Voters Matter, which, according to a press release issued Monday, has “committed to a five-figure ad buy” to call on senators to vote on the bill.

Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, the chair of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, issued a statement Wednesday echoing Moore’s call for a Senate vote.

“Without this new map in place, a vote for Congress in Maryland will be diminished by the actions of Republicans in other states,” said Holder. “True leadership requires action, and Democrats in the Maryland Senate should vote on this map to show their constituents where they stand.”

At a news conference in the House office building Thursday morning, Maryland’s Legislative Black Caucus — which is composed of both senators and delegates — declined to take a position on the matter.

“We focus on consensus, and where there is no consensus, you will not hear from us on a particular issue,” said Legislative Black Caucus Chair Del. N. Scott Phillips, D-Baltimore County.

Across the street in the Senate office building, Republican Party leadership decried Moore’s decision to call out Ferguson as inappropriate.

“I’ve never seen anyone pursue failure so deliberately as this governor,” said Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey, R-Upper Eastern Shore. “He knows that the redistricting will fail in the Senate, but yet I think his idea is to call a vote so he can, in a sense, be revengeful … against Senate Democrats that vote against it. That’s not the way to govern and that’s not real leadership.”

Hershey said that “a number of us” on both sides of the aisle are reaching the point where they would like it to come to the floor for a vote so the debate will finally end.

The legislation is currently in the Senate Rules Committee, where bills are sent after they pass the House to be assigned to a standing committee.

Hershey, Ready and Jennings sit on the committee alongside Ferguson and Sen. Arthur Ellis, D-Charles, who, under Moore’s influence, is protesting certain Senate procedure unless or until the bill is brought to the floor for a vote.

“We’ve certainly let him know that, if he needs three votes in the Rules Committee, he has them,” Hershey said of Ferguson.

While Moore has been vote whipping among Democratic senators, Hershey, Ready and Jennings have faced much less pressure.

“He’s talking about fairness. If it’s a fair bill, then he should want to talk to us because we’ll think it’s fair, too,” said Jennings. “Leading is talking to all of your troops, and if he wants to lead on this issue, he needs to reach out to all of us and tell us why.”

If Ferguson were to have a change of heart and the map passed in the Senate, some Republicans have stated that they are prepared to file a lawsuit to challenge it, opening the potential for the Maryland Supreme Court to strike it and the state’s current, unchallenged, congressional map down for judges to draw and implement one on their own.

While this could work in their favor, Senate Republicans don’t want to set the precedent that midcycle redistricting should be a regular practice.