Top U.S. House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries visited the Maryland State House on Wednesday to show support for early Congressional redistricting.
The House of Delegates passed a proposed Democratic-leaning Congressional map — strongly supported by Gov. Wes Moore — just over two weeks ago with almost unanimous support from House Democrats.
But the proposed map that could threaten the incumbency of Maryland’s sole Republican Congressman Andy Harris (R-District 1) has not been received as warmly by Senate Democrats.
Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) has cited a plethora of reasons as to why he is against mid-cycle redistricting, largely focusing on the potential legal repercussions.
Ferguson is concerned the proposed map — which Republicans are already planning to challenge in court if implemented — could trigger an additional lawsuit against Maryland’s current Congressional map.
The Old Line State is currently sending seven Democrats to Congress, but Ferguson worries if the proposed map and the new map are struck down, a judge could draw new district lines that cede further ground to Republicans.
But other top Democrats believe the new map is worth the legal risk, including Moore, House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D-Anne Arundel and Prince George’s Counties), former U.S. Attorney General and Chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee Eric Holder – and Jeffries.
Jeffries met with Moore, Peña-Melnyk, Legislative Black Caucus Chair Scott Phillips (D-Baltimore County) and state House Democrats, thanking them for their “leadership and courage in advancing a more competitive Congressional map” for Maryland.
“If Congress were doing its job as a coequal branch of government, it would be checking the actions of our out–of–control Executive and there would not be talk of midcycle redistricting. Unfortunately, that’s not currently happening. So the Maryland House stepped up to cause some ‘good trouble,’” Peña-Melnyk said in a statement following her meeting with Jeffries, referencing the catchphrase of the late Congressman John Lewis.
Jeffries’ final stop was a closed-door meeting with Ferguson and the two lawmakers’ respective chiefs of staff.
Sources with knowledge of what was discussed in the meeting described it as a cordial, 45-minute discussion, the majority of which was spent discussing the legal merits of early redistricting.
“[I] had a productive exchange of ideas and perspectives with Senate President Bill Ferguson, and those conversations will continue as we move forward, but I appreciated the opportunity to share my perspective. He shared his perspective, and we'll see where it goes from here,” Jeffries told members of the press following the meeting.
When asked if he believed his comments swayed Ferguson in any way, he said he would let the Senate president speak for himself.
“We made clear our view that a strong, forceful Democratic response is necessary to the unprecedented efforts by Donald Trump and Republicans to gerrymander congressional maps in red states across the country with the sole intention of rigging the midterm elections,” Jeffries followed. “Donald Trump and Republicans have failed the people of Maryland and failed the people of the United States of America.”
However, Jeffries did not refer to the proposed map as a clear 8-0 win for Democrats in Maryland.
“I would argue that it's a competitive map that allows for three or four districts at any given point in time to be won by either a Democrat or Republican. That actually creates an opportunity for the people of Maryland to decide who they should send to represent them in Washington and who may be part of a majority or minority,” Jeffries said.
Ferguson released a statement promptly following the meeting, reiterating that the stance of the Senate Democratic Caucus has not changed.
“I appreciated the meeting with Leader Jeffries this morning. It's precisely because we want Leader Jeffries in the majority that most members in the Maryland Senate Democratic Caucus do not support moving forward with mid-cycle redistricting that will backfire in our State courts and lose Democrats in Congress,” Ferguson’s statement reads.
Moore has repeatedly called on the Senate to vote on the new map, including within his State of the State address last week, and Jeffries made the same voting plea in his own statement following his departure from Annapolis.
“Bill Ferguson authentically believes that the votes don’t exist in the State Senate to move forward. The only way to find out is to allow an immediate up-or-down vote on the Senate floor with respect to the new Congressional map passed by the House of Delegates,” Jeffries’ statement reads.
A source familiar with Jeffries’ meeting with Ferguson said the Senate president committed to continue to talk to his Democratic colleagues about redistricting but that he did not promise Jeffries a floor vote on the proposed map.
Maryland’s Congressional candidate filing deadline is fast-approaching on Feb. 24, but Jeffries and other proponents of early redistricting have argued that date could be pushed if necessary.
“In my view, humbly and respectfully, we can't impose deadlines on ourselves – unilaterally disarm when Donald Trump and the extremists are trying to rig the midterm elections, and that's an ongoing effort that we have to meet forcefully. They started this fight. It's our job as Democrats to end it,” Jeffries told members of the press.
Members of the Maryland House Freedom Caucus — the far-right wing of Republican House members — criticized Jeffries’ trip to Annapolis, arguing the minority leader should be focused on his home state of New York.
There are no future meetings scheduled between Ferguson and Jeffries at this time.
