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Gov. Wes Moore, D-Md., dismissed concerns from Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson, a fellow Democrat, over his new push to redraw the state’s congressional map on Sunday.
In a letter last month, Ferguson urged his party to avoid pursuing mid-cycle redistricting measures to redraw Maryland’s congressional lines, fearing that the process could backfire.
“I believe that mid-cycle redistricting in Maryland twists rules for potential short-term advantage while undermining trust in institutions and ultimately, democracy, but that is not the reason we should not pursue it,” Ferguson wrote. “Simply put, it is too risky and jeopardizes Maryland’s ability to fight against the radical Trump Administration.”
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Moore told CBS’ “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan that “fighting for democracy is never risky” and stood by his order to form a redistricting commission despite Ferguson’s objections.
“My job is to make sure that I’m protecting the democratic process,” Moore said. “The Senate President and I, we agree on the crisis that Donald Trump has put us in. He agrees on the fact that we have watched an administration that’s using the Constitution like it’s a suggestion box.”
“Where we differ is the urgency that this moment requires, the fight that this moment requires,” he continued. “And I personally am someone who is not going to allow Donald Trump to determine whether or not Maryland follows this idea of saying, are we going to do everything we can to make sure we’re preserving our democracy.”
FORMER DEMOCRATIC ADVISOR SAYS PARTY’S RHETORIC ON REDISTRICTING IS GETTING ‘A LITTLE OUT OF CONTROL’
Brennan pressed Moore over whether he considered redistricting efforts in Maryland to be “fair,” noting that Maryland has only one Republican representative. Moore insisted that he would not be drawing the maps and only wants a bipartisan commission to balance out redistricting efforts in other states.
“I want this bipartisan commission to be able to actually speak with the people and to be able to go through their process and just simply say that if other states are going to go through this process, that we’re not just going to sit on our hands because Donald Trump tells us to,” Moore said. “That’s not the way this process is going to work.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Ferguson for comment.
LONE MARYLAND GOP CONGRESSMAN WARNS REDISTRICTING COULD CUT WHITE HOUSE TIES FOR ENTIRE STATE
Moore is not the only blue state leader attempting to redraw congressional districts. On Tuesday, voters passed California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Proposition 50, which returns power to redraw congressional lines from a nonpartisan redistricting commission to the California legislature.
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Newsom’s ballot measure came after Texas Republicans successfully passed a new congressional map, which added five new Republican-leaning districts in the state.
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