By Brian Shane

Staff Writer

(Aug. 13, 2026) Maryland lawmakers approved a proposed constitutional amendment during a two-day special session last week that will ask voters statewide to change the rules governing how the state’s congressional districts may be drawn.

Lower Eastern Shore elected officials said the change could clear the way for Democratic Party lawmakers to redraw the First Congressional District, which includes all of the Eastern Shore, and potentially eliminate Maryland’s only Republican-held seat.

Rep. Andy Harris, the eight-term incumbent representing the First District, argued the change could strip his constituents of their voice in Washington.

He said he expects opponents to file lawsuits within days over what he described as a rushed effort to place the amendment on the ballot.

“This is not about me,” Harris told OC Today-Dispatch. “This is about disenfranchising the Eastern Shore and disenfranchising Republican voters based on their political belief.”

Harris also warned that lawmakers could not redraw the First District in isolation. Any effort to weaken it, he predicted, could force changes to Maryland’s 4th and 7th districts, where Black residents make up a majority of the voting population.

The proposal puts a constitutional change on the November ballot. Voters will be asked whether lawmakers should be allowed to draw congressional districts without following state rules meant to keep them compact and within existing political boundaries.

The change would not affect the 2026 congressional election. If voters approve it, lawmakers could use the new rules when drawing a future congressional map.

Sen. Mary Beth Carozza (R-38, Worcester) said special sessions should be reserved for emergencies and argued lawmakers were spending time on partisan redistricting while more pressing issues face Maryland residents.

She accused Democratic leaders of rushing the measure through the legislature, limiting debate, and bypassing the usual deadlines and public review required for ballot questions. Her Senate committee was given only an hour to review the bill before it returned to the full Senate, she said.

“Gerrymandering is wrong, whether it’s in Texas or it’s in Maryland,” said Carozza, a Republican. “Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

The issue has hovered over Annapolis for much of the year. The House approved a new congressional map in February that could have made Harris’ district more favorable to Democrats, but the proposal died after Senate President Bill Ferguson declined to bring it forward in his chamber.

The Eastern Shore delegation voted unanimously this week to oppose the constitutional amendment, according to Carozza and Del. Wayne Hartman (R-38C, Worcester). The delegation includes Del. Sheree Sample-Hughes, its only Democratic member.

Hartman said the problem extends beyond which party wins a particular seat. When district lines are drawn to guarantee one party’s victory, he said, candidates have little reason to appeal to voters in the middle.

“It makes for very partisan policies,” said Hartman. “When your voter base is fixed in such a way, it makes for extreme policy.”

Hartman said he opposes that approach regardless of which party controls the mapmaking.

“I don’t agree with Texas either,” he said. “I don’t agree with any state, whether it’s Democratic or Republican, to gerrymander to this degree.”

Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, defended the amendment as a necessary response to partisan redistricting in other states. In a statement last Tuesday, he said national reform remains the better answer, but Maryland cannot afford to stand still in the meantime.

“Until that happens, inaction is not an option,” Moore said.

The measure cleared the House 96-38 and the Senate 32-13, surpassing the three-fifths majority required in each chamber to place a constitutional amendment before voters.

Next, the final decision rests with Maryland voters, who will consider the proposed amendment at the ballot box on Nov. 3.