After signing legislation to send redistricting to the ballot this November, Maryland leaders praised Governor Moore for his year-long fight to put the power in the hands of Marylanders in the face of power grabs around the country.
“In August 2025, Governor Moore sent a clear message: Maryland wasn’t going to stand idly by as Black representation across the country was uprooted for Trump’s personal and political gain,” said Del. Marlon Amprey.
“Moore, Peña-Melnyk and the House of Delegates have shown us the playbook: push back at home and call for leaders in Washington to fix this problem once and for all,” said Del. Nick Allen. “This week, our legislature pushed back, and in November, Maryland voters will send a message to Washington.”
Here’s What Marylanders Are Reading:
In August 2025, Governor Moore sent a clear message: Maryland wasn’t going to stand idly by as Black representation across the country was uprooted for Trump’s personal and political gain.
Governor Moore then created a bipartisan commission, which recommended moving forward. Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk led the House and passed a new map in February, and in the months following we continued to push to get us where we are today.
Throughout this whole process, Governor Moore continued to warn that Republicans were moving towards gutting the Voting Rights Act (“VRA”), actively targeting Black representation. He called it political redlining, and he was right. The VRA was gutted, and across the country we saw a systematic attack on some of our nation’s most influential Black political leaders.
Only after continued calls for action from the people did this process begin to move forward toward a special session. After this session, Marylanders will be allowed to vote in November on a constitutional amendment that will dictate how Congressional maps can be made moving forward, ensuring they are more fair.
After a long fight, Maryland should be proud that progress is finally being made, and that legislators in Annapolis are working towards passing fair representation in the face of power grabs around the country.
A year ago, Gov. Wes Moore sent a clear message to Maryland: If other states are redrawing congressional districts in the middle of the decade for partisan gain, our responsibility is not to quietly accept it — it’s to push back here at home and to demand national reform.
We did not get here overnight. This fight has been building for years, and leaders including Moore and House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk have been pushing to ensure fairness here in Maryland for a year.
States are redrawing congressional maps not because the census changed or populations shifted, but because President Donald Trump put his finger on the scale.
The truth is, states no longer play by the same rules. Some states prohibit mid-decade redistricting while others allow it. Some have safeguards against partisan gerrymandering, which the U.S. Supreme Court has unfortunately repeatedly ruled is constitutional. But others have virtually no safeguards.
That is not sustainable.
As we used to say in the Army, hope is not a strategy. Unilateral restraint sounds noble, but it rarely works when everyone else is playing by different rules. It’s why in Maryland we chose to act, not sit idly by.
If other states are willing to rewrite the rules in the middle of the game while we refuse to respond or demand change, we are asking our own voters to compete under a different set of rules than everyone else. That is not fairness. It is surrender.
We cannot surrender; we must meet the moment, and the Maryland General Assembly, led by the House of Delegates, has done just that. We have a responsibility to push for a permanent solution. It’s why we must send this ballot initiative to the voters in November and continue to push Congress to pass national redistricting reform.
A nationwide problem requires a federal solution. That is why I am asking my colleagues in the General Assembly, Republicans and Democrats alike, to join me in signing a bipartisan letter to Trump, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, House Speaker Mike Johnson, and Rep. Andy Harris urging Congress to pass nationwide redistricting reform.
In Washington, Republicans who currently control the House, the Senate and the White House could pass a nationwide redistricting reform tomorrow if they chose to do so. In fact, there is already a bill, introduced by Rep. Kevin Kiley (who was up until recently a Republican), to do just that: H.R. 4889. Johnson refuses to bring it to a vote, but there is currently a discharge petition gaining signatures to force him to act, and Harris should sign onto it.
Regardless of what happens, here in Maryland, we will take decisive action to ensure competitive elections across our state.
Moore, Peña-Melnyk and the House of Delegates have shown us the playbook: push back at home and call for leaders in Washington to fix this problem once and for all. This week, our legislature pushed back, and in November, Maryland voters will send a message to Washington.
Contact: Carter Elliott, IV [email protected]