Maryland Gov. Wes Moore says Democrats have ‘oligation’ to consider new congressional map

Gov. Wes Moore says the Maryland state Senate has an “obligation to vote” on legislation to redraw the state’s congressional map — a move Democrats hope will help them flip a seat in the midterm elections.

The Maryland House has already approved the measure, but it faces resistance in the state Senate, where Senate President Bill Ferguson, the chamber’s top Democrat, has opposed the effort.

“When you are watching Donald Trump in front of our face, trying to ruin and trying to thwart democracy, we have an obligation to step up,” Mr. Moore said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We have an obligation to debate, and the Maryland Senate has an obligation to vote.”

The redistricting battle began over the summer after Mr. Trump convinced the Texas GOP to carve out new congressional districts that could help Republicans pick up five seats this fall, thereby helping the party defend its slim House majority.

California countered with its own redistricting effort targeting five Republican-held districts. Other stats, both red and blue, have followed suit.

Mr. Moore said Maryland must respond to Trump‑aligned efforts in other states where Republicans have adopted more GOP‑friendly maps. He also argued that Maryland has been disproportionately affected by Mr. Trump’s push to shrink the federal workforce.

Democrats already hold seven of Maryland’s eight House seats. Rep. Andy Harris is the lone Republican in the delegation, although the GOP typically gets in federal election a percentage of the vote in the mid- and high-30s.

The push comes as Democrats in Virginia are also working to adopt a new map that could position them to hold 10 of the state’s 11 congressional seats. Republicans currently hold six of 11.

Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed a bill Friday to schedule an April referendum that would set the stage for the state to use new, more Democratic-friendly maps this fall.

Republicans hammered the Virginia effort, with Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, decrying it as “a brazen abuse of power and an insult to democracy.”

Sen. L. Louise Lucas, the Democratic president pro tempore of the state Senate, clapped back at Mr. Cruz.

“You all started it and we f——— finished it,” she wrote Friday on X.