The 2020 Census kick-started efforts to redraw congressional district lines based on new population data, a decennial process known as redistricting.
That, in turn, triggered all-too-familiar political battles as Democrats and Republicans fight for representation.
The stakes are high: Redistricting can artificially tilt the balance of power in tight races. That may have huge implications in the 2022 midterm elections, which will determine who controls the U.S. House, where Democrats currently have a narrow four-seat advantage.
Maryland , with not one, but two redistricting commissions 鈥� one created by Republican Gov. Larry Hogan and the other by Maryland鈥檚 Democratic-controlled General Assembly 鈥� working to shape the map ahead of the 2022 midterms.
And both are holding meetings this week to get the public鈥檚 input on how that map should be drawn.
The fight over redistricting
Democrats have long accused Republicans of , using their control of state legislatures to manipulate boundary maps to create GOP strongholds 鈥� Republicans , compared to 18 for Democrats.
But in recent years, Democrats have been accused of doing the same in an effort to catch up to Republicans. Maryland, which has experienced 7% growth since the 2010 Census, .
In 2011, then-Maryland Gov. Martin O鈥橫alley, a Democrat, that he drew a map that elected an additional Democrat to the House to push back against Republican governors who 鈥渃arve Democratic voters into irrelevance in state after state in order to help elect lopsided Republican congressional delegations.鈥�
But O鈥橫alley added that he hoped the Supreme Court would ultimately end partisan redistricting. In a 2019 decision that broke along ideological lines, however, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that courts have no say over partisan gerrymandering.
In 2015, Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, to end gerrymandering in his Democratic-leaning state. The result is the , which is composed of nine members: three registered Democrats, three registered Republicans and three registered nonaffiliated voters.
Meanwhile, the Maryland General Assembly launched its own bipartisan , convened by Senate President Bill Ferguson, D-Baltimore City, and House Speaker Adrienne Jones, D-Baltimore County.
Both commissions are soliciting input from the public to develop new maps for the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as the Maryland State Senate and House of Delegates.
It鈥檚 a monthslong process, with numerous public and private meetings. Hogan will take the Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission鈥檚 recommendations and present them as a bill to the General Assembly, which is expected to hold a special session on redistricting in December.
The General Assembly, which also will consider proposals from its own legislative commission, has the final say over what Maryland鈥檚 maps will ultimately look like.
Hogan cannot veto the General Assembly鈥檚 plans for state legislatures. He can, however, veto the congressional maps for the U.S. House, but the assembly can override that veto 鈥� and with Democrats holding a supermajority, they鈥檝e been able to override Hogan鈥檚 vetoes in the past.
Hogan鈥檚 Citizens Commission
Walter Olson is co-chair of the Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission and a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute. He told 草莓传媒 that ending gerrymandering has been one of Hogan鈥檚 鈥渟ignature issues,鈥� and the idea behind the Citizens Commission is to redraw districts 鈥渢hat would not be based just on political advantage.鈥�
Among the 鈥渕arching orders鈥� given to the commission were for them to consider 鈥渃ompactness鈥� and respect county and municipal boundaries.
Olson said the commission cannot 鈥渂ase any of its deliberations on political data, such as party registration in any locality or past election results,鈥� or other factors that would benefit a particular party or candidate.
鈥淥ne of the things that you notice about the existing congressional map from Maryland that is so notorious is that it keeps crisscrossing county lines for no particularly good reason,鈥� he said.
He declined to talk about the Maryland General Assembly鈥檚 commission, because 鈥渙ur job is to stay away from partisan politics as much as possible.”
But he did say that clear differences are emerging between the Citizens Commission鈥檚 proposal for congressional redistricting versus the current map that was developed 10 years ago.
鈥淲estern Maryland, which is very artificially split in the map inherited from 10 years ago, is kept whole in our map,鈥� Olson said, also citing Anne Arundel County, which was 鈥渟plit into four pieces in the map from 10 years ago (but is) kept in one large piece and one small piece in our map. So those congressional maps are very, very different.鈥�
Tonight the Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission voted unanimously to approve a proposed Congressional map for public comment. Hearings at which the public can testify are set for each Wednesday evening in October at 6 p.m. /1
鈥� Walter Olson (@walterolson)
But Olson noted that population growth will also reshape districts 鈥� regardless of politics.
鈥淪ome counties have been very fast-growing, like Frederick County, Charles County, Howard County (and) Prince George鈥檚 County,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd as a result, they are going to have more clout in the Maryland Senate because the districts have to be redrawn to acknowledge that their population has gone up.鈥�
On the flip side, parts of the state with declining populations will see their representation go down. Olson said that includes far Western Maryland, much of the Eastern Shore and Baltimore City.
Seeking public feedback
Olson said another important feature of the Citizens Commission is that it鈥檚 been releasing its map drafts throughout the process, so that the public can respond to them at hearings.
The Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission , with a total of 12 scheduled through Nov. 18. But it won鈥檛 be releasing map drafts until the commission is ready to release its final proposal to the public.
Olson said the Citizens Commission鈥檚 release of drafts 鈥渁llowed the public to see what the thought process was as it was going on.鈥�
He cited one proposed map for the Maryland State Senate that drew a lot of pushback.
鈥淲hen we released the state Senate map, it changed around the lines in Southern Maryland, in St. Mary鈥檚 County in particular. And a lot of people in St. Mary鈥檚 County didn鈥檛 like the new way the lines were drawn 鈥� and boy, did we ever hear from them,鈥� Olson laughed.
鈥淚 think more than 100 emails came out, and a lot of people showed up at a hearing from St. Mary鈥檚 County and said in their own words 鈥� that they didn鈥檛 like the way the map broke St. Mary鈥檚 between two districts. And we listened and we 鈥� fixed it because that鈥檚 the beauty of the process in which the public can see maps as they go along. As such, they can offer advice while it still has time to make a difference.鈥�
The Citizens Commission will begin its third round of virtual meetings on Oct. 6, when it will present final map drafts to the public.
Round three meetings will allow Marylanders to discuss the proposed legislative and congressional maps that will be posted at . These maps were created following since May 5 and took into account , according to a news release.
Meanwhile, the Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission will hold its own public hearing on Oct. 5, part of a dozen the commission has planned.
The commission will be chaired by Karl Aro, the former executive director of the nonpartisan Department of Legislative Services. Members of the commission also include:
- Senate President Bill Ferguson, D-Baltimore City;
- House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones, D-Baltimore County;
- Senate President Pro Tempore Melony Griffith, D-Prince George鈥檚 County;
- House Majority Leader Eric Luedtke, D-Montgomery County;
- Senate Minority Leader Bryan W. Simonaire; R-Anne Arundel County.
- House Minority Leader Jason Buckel; R-Allegany County.
Ferguson that public input will be 鈥渁bsolutely essential鈥� to the commission鈥檚 work.
鈥淲e will have a fair and transparent process, and in order for that to happen we need to hear from the public,鈥� he said.
I’m on my way to Western Maryland for the second of 12 public meetings that the Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission will hold in every region of the State. It鈥檚 vital that you to let your voice be heard by the legislature as we fulfill our cons 鈥�
鈥� Bill Ferguson (@SenBillFerg)
