Maryland’s Sole GOP Congressman Safe From Redistricting

Despite prior talk of redistricting, it now appears that Maryland Democrats won’t attempt to flip the seat of the state’s sole Republican representative in Congress, Andy Harris.

As an eight-term member of Congress and current chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, a staunchly conservative faction of the Republican Party, Harris is an influential figure in Washington. But he’s the sole Republican in the state’s eight-member House delegation.

On Tuesday, Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson, a Democrat, confirmed that he would not be pursuing congressional redistricting.

“Despite deeply shared frustrations about the state of our country, mid-cycle redistricting for Maryland presents a reality where the legal risks are too high, the timeline for action is dangerous, the downside risk to Democrats is catastrophic, and the certainty of our existing map would be undermined,” Ferguson wrote his fellow state senators in a letter.

Ferguson’s letter poured cold water on the push for redistricting in Maryland. Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, had previously called himself “an eager and a willing partner” with the state Legislature if it proceeded with redistricting.

In 2021, the Maryland General Assembly passed a redistricting bill that would likely have removed Harris from Congress. It was ultimately challenged by Republicans, going to the Supreme Court of Maryland, which ruled the map was overly partisan and violated the state’s constitution.

Republican Maryland state Rep. Kathy Szeliga was a lead plaintiff in that case and is a member of the Maryland Freedom Caucus. She told The Daily Signal in September when asked about potential redistricting: “We’ve been down that road. Bring it on.”

Harris has harshly criticized Moore’s talk of redistricting, recently telling a reporter, “The most partisan thing you could do is gerrymander a state that has had two Republican governors out of the last four, into a state that can’t send a Republican to Congress.”

He has also argued that any attempt to redistrict Maryland could backfire on Democrats if it went to court.

“We will take this to court, it will go as high as necessary, and in the end, a judge could draw a map that actually has two or three Republican congressmen,” Harris said. “I’d caution the Democrats: Be careful what you wish for.”