The Maryland General Assembly voted on Aug. 4 to send a ballot measure to voters in November that would provide that constitutional requirements for contiguity, compactness, substantially equal population, and consideration of natural and political subdivision boundaries apply only to state legislative districts, not congressional districts, and that the Maryland Constitution establishes no criteria for congressional district boundaries. It would also allow the General Assembly to grant the state Supreme Court original jurisdiction over challenges to congressional redistricting plans. The amendment would not affect the 2026 election cycle.
The amendment, House Bill 2100, passed on the second day of the special legislative session by a vote of 96-38 in the state House and by a vote of 32-13 in the state Senate. The votes were largely along party lines.
Maryland was apportioned eight seats in the U.S. House of Representatives after the 2020 census, the same number it received after the 2010 census. In Maryland, the primary authority to draw both congressional and state legislative district lines rests with the state legislature.
In favor of the amendment, Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-46) said, "During this special session, we are clarifying the rules by which we will draw maps to ensure we are using the standards the state used for decades prior. ... We’ve known that we cannot consider any future map in the near term or the long term without first addressing the uncertainty that the 2022 Battaglia decision created. If we want a future legislature to have meaningful options, we must address this issue first, and we have to make sure that Marylanders have a say in that process."
On March 25, 2022, Circuit Court Judge Lynne Battaglia overturned the state's enacted congressional map and ordered the General Assembly to develop a new congressional map. In her ruling, Battaglia said, "It is extraordinarily unlikely that a map that looks like the 2021 Plan could be produced without extreme partisan gerrymandering." Judge Battaglia ruled that the state constitution required congressional districts to abide by the criteria established in Article III, requiring districts to be contiguous, compact, substantially equal in population, and drawn according to natural and political subdivision boundaries.
Maryland adopted new congressional district boundaries on April 4, 2022, when then Gov. Larry Hogan (R) signed revised redistricting legislation that the General Assembly had finalized on March 30. Hogan signed the new map after state Attorney General Brian Frosh withdrew his appeal of Circuit Court Judge Lynne Battaglia's ruling overturning the state's previous congressional redistricting plan.
Currently, seven of the eight congressional seats are held by Democrats, and one is held by a Republican, U.S. Rep. Andy Harris. Following the amendment’s passage, Harris said, “They are disenfranchising my Republican voters by saying, ‘We are going to draw a map based on your political speech, how you register and how you vote. We’re going to discriminate against you because of that.’”
Maryland voters have decided on at least two veto referendums targeting congressional districts in 2012 and 1962. The 2012 measure was approved by a margin of 65% to 35%, upholding the districts passed by the state legislature. The 1962 measure was defeated by the same margin, but with 65% against the referendum and 35% in support. It repealed districts passed by the 1961 legislature.
In Maryland, the governor submits a state legislative redistricting proposal (an advisory commission appointed by the governor assists in drafting this proposal). The state legislature may pass its own plan by joint resolution, which is not subject to gubernatorial veto. If the legislature fails to approve its own plan, the governor's plan takes effect. Congressional lines are adopted solely by the legislature and may be vetoed by the governor.
As of July 2026, ten states — Alabama, California, Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah — had new congressional maps. Before 2025, only two states had conducted voluntary mid-decade redistricting since 1970.
In California, voters needed to approve an amendment in 2025 to authorize the state legislature to draw a new congressional district map for elections between 2026 and 2030, which voters approved with 64% support. The Virginia State Legislature also voted to send a mid-cycle redistricting amendment to voters in April 2026. It was approved by voters on April 21 by a margin of 52% to 48%, but the state Supreme Court overturned it on May 8, holding that the state legislature violated procedural requirements when placing the amendment on the ballot.
Maryland voters will also be deciding on two other amendments addressing filling vacancies on the Commission on Judicial Disabilities and requiring the governor’s budget to include appropriations for terms and conditions of employment provided by a memorandum of understanding that covers state employees. The latter was placed on the ballot twice in April during the final days of the legislative session, because two separate bills proposing the same amendment passed. On Aug. 4, the General Assembly voted to repeal Senate Bill 28, removing one of the duplicate amendments from the November ballot.
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