Another Kind Of Flag Football, A Redistricting Timeout, And Super Bowl Picks, In Political Notes

By Bryan P. Sears and William J. Ford, Maryland Matters

February 6, 2026

It’s flag football, but not the kind with aerobic benefits.

Gov. Wes Moore (D) is having to defend his comments last week about the history and meaning of the Maryland flag. In a podcast interview released last week, Moore called the state flag a “contradiction.” Some saw it as a clear-eyed recounting of history. Other questioned whether Moore was holding the flag out as a symbol of hope and reconciliation or a vestige of the Confederacy and racism.

The latest attack came Thursday from the leader of the Maryland Senate Republican Caucus, who is calling on Moore to explain or “walk back” his comments. Senate Minority Leader Stephen S. Hershey Jr. (R-Upper Shore) said Moore’s criticism of the flag is hurtful to Marylanders who see the flag as a point of pride.

“This is the pride of our state,” Hershey said during a meeting with reporters. “It is the most-recognized flag in the country…. the fact that he’s going to touch that third rail and talk about the Maryland flag in a disparaging way — again, I think it’s hurtful to the citizens of Maryland. He does need to roll it back or come up and say exactly what he meant when he started to talk about it.

“We are hearing the comments, and then when we ask the question, ‘What does the governor mean by that?’ you get a very dismissive response. ‘Don’t worry about that. Worry about something else,'” Hershey said.

A spokesperson for the governor dismissed the controversy as “silly.”

“Governor Moore does not want to change the Maryland flag – which he has openly bragged about as the best flag in the country. This entire discussion is silly,” Moussa said in an email.

The flag flap began on “The Press Box” podcast when Moore, who is often mentioned as a potential 2028 presidential candidate, was asked whether the country wants another Black president. Moore’s roundabout answer turned to President Donald Trump’s push to redistrict red states to gain Republican seats in Congress this fall, and the need for Democratic states like Maryland to respond. And that’s when he threw the flag.

“I mean, literally, you look at our flag,” he said. “Our flag is a contradiction because our flag is literally a Confederate symbol mixed with a Union symbol.”

The current flag, officially adopted in 1904, contains panels that were once the family colors and coat of arms of the Calvert family, founders of the state. Part of those colors were appropriated by Marylanders who sympathized with and fought for the Confederacy; Unionists adopted the other parts.

Another Moore spokesperson said earlier this week that while the flag “is undoubtedly the best flag in the country” it also “symbolizes the state’s complicated history.”

Hershey is not having it.

“We’re just getting a dismissive comment that we should go worry about other things, while this governor is running around worried about everything else except the state of Maryland, while he’s worried about the redistricting demands that he’s seeing from national Democrats, he’s not worried about the state of Maryland,” Hershey said. “I think that at the end of the day, what Marylanders want to see [is] a focus on Maryland and don’t disparage our flag.”

A permanent home

Two bills. Two committees. Same day. Very different futures.

After it was passed by the House, a bill redrawing the state’s eight congressional districts was introduced in the Senate this week and assigned to a committee for further action. The same thing happened with a House bill that would ban so-called 287(g) agreements between local police agencies and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Their paths may have been similar, but their paths diverged at the pro forma session where they were assigned to a committee.

House Bill 444, the 287(g) bill was sent to the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, where it will get a hearing and a vote and is expected back on the Senate floor soon for full Senate approval. HB 444 is identical to a Senate bill the chamber passed earlier this week.

Ellis demands redistricting vote, walks off Senate floor in protest

Despite enthusiastic approval in the House, HB 488, the redistricting bill, is opposed by Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City), most members of the Democratic caucus and Senate Republicans. It was assigned to the Senate Rules Committee for further action — or inaction.

Rules are often a graveyard for disfavored bills. Despite mounting pressure from Gov. Wes Moore and other state and national Democratic leaders, it does not appear the Senate will vote on the bill, which is likely to languish in Rules.

At the end of the pro forma session, Senate Minority Leader Sen. Stephen S. Hershey Jr (R-Upper Shore) told Ferguson he “liked” the committee assignments.

“They’re in their permanent homes,” Ferguson responded as he stepped off the rostrum.

Black History Moment

Sen. Arthur Ellis (D-Charles) presented the chamber’s first Black History Month moment Thursday with a presentation on Pauli Murray, Ella Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer and Jo Ann Robinson — “The architects of freedom: the unsung Black women of the Civil Rights Movement.”

Ellis said he wanted to present the women because, “We often see a series of iconic men at the microphone,” before catching himself. “I apologize, I’m at the microphone, too,” he noted.

Murray was born in 1910 in Baltimore, where the National Museum of African American History and Culture said she wrote a small pamphlet commissioned by the Methodist Church about how segregation laws impacted its mission. It turned into a 776-page book published in 1950 that the late Thurgood Marshall called “the bible” of the Civil Rights Movement.

Baker, born in 1903, was a member of the NAACP in the 1940s. In 1960, she organized a meeting at Shaw University in North Carolina with student leaders of the sit-in movements. That meeting established the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) that included the late Rep. John Lewis (D-Georgia) as one of its founders.

Hamer, born in 1917 as the youngest of 20 children to sharecroppers, became a SNCC organizer in the 1960s. She reached national prominence as a co-founder of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party as a challenge to the local Democratic Party’s effort to block Black participation.

Robinson, born in 1912, moved to Montgomery, Alabama, to teach at Alabama State College in 1949. After Robinson was verbally attacked by a bus driver for sitting in a “whites only” section on a bus, she helped push a one-day bus boycott that initiated the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1956 that bus segregation there was unconstitutional.

“In conclusion, the Civil Rights Movement was not a sole performance. It was a symphony of resistance, orchestrated by women who were often told to stay in the background,” Ellis said. “These women prove that leadership is not defined by who is at the podium, but by those visions … bold enough to change the law and whose courage is deep enough to change the culture.”

Speaking up to the speaker over speech

A Republican House member said she is being silenced by House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel), reminding the speaker in a two-page letter that Republican voices “matter too.”

Del. Lauren Arikan (R-Harford) registers her displeasure at being reined by by House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel) during debate Tuesday. (Photo by Christine Condon/ Maryland Matters)

“The more than 43,000 people I represent saw through your actions yesterday exactly how much they matter to you,” Del. Lauren Arikan (R-Harford) said in the Wednesday letter, a copy of which was provided to reporters. “It was sad for them to watch how you treated me on the floor as you attempted to shut down overtly on-topic debate. While you have the right, per the House Rules, to silence whomever you choose, it is unfortunate that just weeks into your tenure as Speaker of the House of Delegates that your own words already ring hollow.”

Arikan shared the letter, along with a video clip of the exchange she titled “Democrat Tyranny.”

Arikan said the speaker cut her off repeatedly during debate over House Bill 444, which would ban 287(g) agreements between local governments and federal immigration officials. During her comments, Arikan referenced a bill passed in a previous session that was also related to immigration enforcement. That;s when Peña-Melnyk stepped in and asked Arikan to “stay with the bill.” The speaker warned Arikan that by not doing so, she might be forced to curtail debate.

Peña-Melnyk responded to Arikan’s letter in a statement to a reporter.

“I make a judgment call in every moment on the House Floor with a dedication to impartiality,” Peña-Melnyk said in her statement. “There has not been a day since I became Speaker that I have not encouraged more civility in our politics and that will continue to be my North Star.”

Senate chooses Seahawks

With no Baltimore Ravens and no Washington Commanders to root for in Sunday’s Super Bowl LX, Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) asked the chamber Thursday to vote on who would win the game between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots, “for those who care to be watching.”

While the local teams are out, there are also “Thank God, no Steelers,” Ferguson said, taking a playful shot at Pittsburgh Steelers fan Sen. Brian Feldman (D-Montgomery), chair of the Education, Energy and the Environment Committee.

Sen. Mary Washington (D-Baltimore City and Baltimore County) stood up to explain her vote for the Patriots. “My wife is from [the] Boston area. I’d like to be able to go home this weekend,” Washington said.

“Duly noted. Well said,” Ferguson said.

The final vote: 28 senators chose the Seahawks and eight chose the Patriots. Seven chose “excused,” or as Ferguson put it, “seven who just don’t care and are watching the commercials.” Those seven were Sens. Malcolm Augustine (D-Prince George’s), Nick Charles (D-Prince George’s), Arthur Ellis (D-Charles County), Guy Guzzone (D-Howard), Shaneka Henson (D-Anne Arundel), Katie Fry Hester (D-Howard) and Jim Rosapepe (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel).

“We’ll keep this record printed out to see who’s correct. Might be a prize on Monday. We’ll see,” Ferguson said.