Maryland approves amendment making it easier to redistrict House map

A ballot measure that would make it easier for Maryland Democrats to pass a more favorable House map is projected to pass, according to Decision Desk HQ.

Voters approved the constitutional amendment, known as Question 3, which would enact different requirements for drawing maps for state legislative seats and congressional districts. The initiative will also require state legislative districts to be compact and adjoining, but there would be no criteria for determining how to draw the lines.

It is projected to pass with 59.65 percent support, while 40.35 percent opposed, with 94 percent reported by DDHQ.

The ballot measure also gives the General Assembly “the power to grant original jurisdiction to the Supreme Court of Maryland to review the congressional districting plan of the state.”

The Old Line State has a Democratic-favored 7-1 congressional delegation, with Rep. Andy Harris (Md.) as the state’s lone Republican. Democrats tried to redistrict the state’s congressional map earlier this year in response to GOP-led redistricting in states like Texas and Missouri as Republicans looked to add pickup opportunities for themselves in the upper chamber of Congress.

A new map would have only offered Maryland Democrats at least one pickup opportunity.

Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson (D) blocked his party’s efforts to redraw a new House map ahead of the 2026 elections, worrying that Democrats could see a repeat scenario of 2022 — when the party tried to aggressively usher in an 8-0 gerrymander that later got struck down by the courts.

Ferguson, however, appeared to shift his stance in May, suggesting he would be open to moving forward with a constitutional amendment to tee up before voters as the Senate president braced for a competitive primary that he ultimately won in June.