Common Questions

Why was Maryland's congressional redistricting blocked in 2026?: Maryland's House passed an all-8-seats Democratic map 99-37, but Senate President Bill Ferguson refused to hold a Senate vote, blocking it. The proposed map may have repeated a gerrymander previously struck down by courts.Source: event
How many congressional seats does Maryland have and who holds them?: Maryland has 8 congressional seats, currently split 7 Democratic and 1 Republican. The blocked redistricting plan would have converted the delegation to 8-0 Democratic.
Who are Maryland's US senators?: Maryland's two US senators are Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks, both Democrats. Van Hollen sits on the Foreign Relations and Appropriations Committees; Alsobrooks won the seat vacated by Ben Cardin in November 2024.Source: https://www.senate.gov/
Why did Maryland's Senate block its own redistricting map?: Senate President Bill Ferguson refused to schedule a vote on the Democratic House map, concerned it would repeat the gerrymander previously struck down by the courts. The House passed the map 99-37 to make the 8-seat delegation all-Democrat.Source: https://lowdown.today/t/us-midterms-2026/
Why did Maryland's Senate president block the redistricting map?: Senate President Bill Ferguson refused to schedule a Senate vote on the 99-37 House-passed map in early 2026, reportedly citing risk of federal court challenge based on the 2022 ruling that struck down the previous all-Democratic gerrymander.Source: Maryland General Assembly records
Will Maryland redraw its congressional map after the Callais ruling?: House Minority Leader Jeffries named Maryland as a Democratic retaliation target on 4 May 2026 after the Callais ruling; as of 7 May 2026 no session has been called, but Ranking Member Morelle was tasked with coordinating the response.Source: Jeffries office statement
How many Democratic seats could Maryland gain from redistricting?: Maryland's current delegation is 7-1 Democratic. The February 2026 proposal would have made it 8-0; whether a legally defensible post-Callais version could achieve the same result depends on the state court's view of the 2022 ruling.
Who is the governor of Maryland in 2026?: Wes Moore, a Democrat elected in 2022, is the Governor of Maryland. Maryland also has Democratic supermajorities in both chambers of the General Assembly.

Background

Maryland represents the most striking example of intra-party conflict in the 2026 redistricting wave. The Maryland House passed an all-eight-seats-Democratic congressional map by 99-37 on 2 February 2026. Senate President Bill Ferguson then refused to hold a Senate vote, blocking the map indefinitely . The blockage came despite Maryland being a state where Democrats hold supermajorities in both chambers.

Maryland is one of eight states actively involved in mid-decade redistricting . The proposed all-Democratic map would have converted Maryland's existing 7-1 delegation to 8-0. Judicial Watch characterised the plan as replicating a gerrymander previously struck down as unconstitutional, and Ferguson's refusal to advance it may reflect concern about federal court exposure.

The dynamics in Maryland illustrate a consistent feature of mid-decade redistricting: the legally and politically viable maps are constrained by prior court rulings. Both partisan extremes risk legal challenge, forcing even willing state legislatures into more moderate map-drawing than pure partisan logic would dictate.

Maryland's redistricting story moved in two phases. In February 2026, Senate President Ferguson killed the 8-0 map; the session ended on 10 March 2026 without a Senate vote, formally ending the attempt . After the Supreme Court's Callais ruling on 29 April 2026 gutted the VRA Section 2 majority-minority mandate, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries named Maryland explicitly as a Democratic retaliation target, asking Ranking Member Joseph Morelle to travel to Albany on 4 May to coordinate the multi-state Democratic response alongside Illinois . Maryland was also listed among the four states that are potential post-Callais redraw targets for Democrats .

Maryland is a mid-Atlantic state with six million residents and a congressional delegation currently standing 7-1 Democratic (the sole Republican is Andy Harris in MD-1). The state has a Democratic governor (Wes Moore, elected 2022) and Democratic supermajorities in both chambers of the General Assembly. The Chesapeake Bay dominates its eastern geography; the state contains the DC suburbs of Montgomery and Prince George's counties, which drive its heavily Democratic lean. The state's redistricting legal constraint is the 2022 federal court ruling that struck down the previous all-Democratic gerrymander — the same ruling Judicial Watch cited when Ferguson blocked the February 2026 attempt.

Source Material

Maryland General Assembly — Official Website Maryland — Wikipedia

How the World Sees Them

National Democrats

Maryland is a missed opportunity: an easily justifiable partisan gain blocked not by courts or Republicans but by a Democratic Senate leader.

Maryland Republicans

Hold only one House seat (MD-1); rely on the 2022 court ruling as a legal defence against further elimination. A post-Callais redraw under a different legal framework changes that calculus.

Maryland House Democrats

Passed the map overwhelmingly; view Senate blockage as unilateral obstruction of a democratic majority decision.

Senate President Ferguson

Has not publicly explained refusal; may reflect legal risk assessment that the all-8 map repeats a previously struck-down gerrymander.

Maryland Senate (Ferguson)

Blocked the 8-0 map citing federal court exposure from the 2022 ruling; the refusal reflects the structural legal constraint on extreme partisan maps even in safe Democratic states.

National Democrats (Jeffries)

Named Maryland as a retaliation target after Callais; the post-Callais environment may allow a more aggressive map without the VRA Section 2 constraint Republicans previously used.