House Wastes No Time Taking Up Congressional Redistricting Bill

By Bryan P. Sears, Maryland Matters

January 23, 2026

It’s full speed ahead for a legislative effort to redraw the state’s eight congressional districts.

Just three days after a five-member gubernatorial advisory committee voted 3-2 to recommend a congressional redistricting plan that would hobble the one Republican-held district in the state, a bill has been drafted and will be introduced in the House at Friday morning’s session.

The bill, sponsored by Del. C.T. Wilson (D-Charles), who was a member of the Governor’s Redistricting Advisory Commission, is based on a “concept map” approved by the commission.

The bill is expected to be referred to the House Rules Committee, which late Thursday scheduled a hearing for 1 p.m. Monday. There is no agenda yet for that hearing, but an expedited process for Wilson’s bill could have it out of committee and back to the House floor as early as Tuesday. That would put it on track for a final vote by midweek and referral by next Friday to the Senate, where opponents have vowed to kill the plan.

The House introduction is a speedy turnaround from Tuesday, when the Governor’s Redistricting Advisory Commission met in private and voted 3-2 to recommend a “concept map” to the General Assembly. Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) and Cumberland Mayor Ray Morriss, a Republican, voted against making a recommendation.

Moore’s redistricting commission recommends ‘congressional map concept’

The concept map makes changes to all eight congressional districts, but it makes the most severe changes to the 1st District — the state’s lone Republican district, held by GOP Rep. Andy Harris.

Currently, the district includes the entire Eastern Shore, then stretches into Cecil and Harford counties, and part of eastern Baltimore County. The conceptual map would recast the district by cutting off part of the upper Shore and instead pushing the district across the Chesapeake Bay into Anne Arundel County, where it would stretch north and west into Howard County to include a portion of Columbia.

The changes increase the number of liberal Democrats in the district. The change, in theory, would make it harder for a conservative Republican like Harris, the chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, to retain the seat.

But the concept map has problems.

None of the eight districts in the concept would pass judicial review. The population has to be as close to equal as possible in each of the eight districts to meet the “one person, one vote” standard, but the map as drawn varies by more than 1,000 people between the largest and smallest districts.

The bill introduced in the House on Friday is expected to address that issue by shifting district lines to “zero out” population discrepancies.

The quick turnaround comes as the state braces for what could be a major snowstorm over the weekend, with Gov. Wes Moore declaring a state of preparedness Thursday ahead of the storm.

The latest forecast called for accumulating snow, sleet and freezing rain to the state. The National Weather Service put the region under a winter storm watch Friday, with the storm expected to start Saturday and stretch through most of the day Sunday.

It is unclear how the weather may affect the meetings Monday. The scheduled Rules Committee hearing leaves open the possibility of a virtual meeting if weather prevents lawmakers from making it back to Annapolis.