Democrat tough talk fails in Maryland, where congressional redistricting plan dies on the vine

A tough pressure campaign from high-profile Democrats has failed to persuade other members of their party in Maryland, where a new congressional map is now off the table.

Democrats enjoy a super-majority in both the Maryland House of Delegates and the Senate, and Democrat Wes Moore has been governor since 2023. Nevertheless, a redistricting proposal that would have threatened the lone Republican congressional seat died in the Maryland Senate when the legislative session ended Monday night.

‘At some point, I am going to have to have a conversation with him if he continues to stand in the way of an up or down vote.’

The Maryland House passed the map overwhelmingly in early February, 99-37.

Gov. Moore pressed hard to pass the map through the state Senate and onto his desk as a way to combat Republican redistricting efforts in Texas and North Carolina, spearheaded by President Donald Trump.

“I think Donald Trump is actively trying to manipulate and change the rules around the November election and beyond because he knows he cannot win on his policies,” Moore told the AP.

Moore also told Rev. Al Sharpton last week: “If the rest of the country is going to have this conversation about mid-decade redistricting, then so should Maryland, and so should every other state. Because until it is done nationally, we have to make sure that this election is not stolen right before our face so this pain is made permanent.”

RELATED: Hakeem Jeffries pressures Maryland Democrat over one Republican-held congressional seat

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Even U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) promised to pressure Democratic Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson to bring the map up for a vote.

“All we are asking Senate President Ferguson to do is allow democracy to prevail. What that means is an up or down vote,” Jeffries said in February. “At some point, I am going to have to have a conversation with him if he continues to stand in the way of an up or down vote. But, hopefully, over the next few days, he will change his mind.”

But Ferguson did not change his mind.

Ferguson has consistently resisted efforts to vote on the map, claiming that passing a new map could jeopardize the current map by prompting judicial review.

“Any redrawing of the current map could reopen the ability for someone to challenge the current map and give the court the opportunity to strike it down, or even worse, redraw the map itself,” Ferguson wrote in a letter back in October.

“That means that Maryland’s potential gain of one seat is immediately eliminated, and, in fact, worsens the national outlook.”

A judge already tossed a Maryland congressional map that passed in 2021, calling it “a product of extreme partisan gerrymandering.” The current map was passed in 2022.

Jeffries’ office did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

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