By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Staff Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com
The Maryland House of Delegates, on Feb. 2, passed a controversial mid-cycle congressional redistricting plan designed to reshape the state’s eight U.S. House districts.
The aim of the map is to significantly alter the lone Republican-held congressional seat, the 1st District. House Bill (HB) 488 passed by a 99‑37 vote, which was achieved primarily along party lines.
House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D-Md.-21) pressed that now is the time to pass and implement this redistricting initiative.
“We are not here because we want to be here,” said Peña-Melnyk in a statement. “We are here because the times call for it.”
She highlighted that since the 47th president directed Texas to redistrict in order for the party to gain more seats in the United States House of Representatives, five states have followed suit.
“The House passed a map to strengthen community representation, comply with traditional districting criteria, and ensure Maryland’s representatives maintain a fair opportunity to elect the next Speaker of the House in Washington, D.C.,” she said. “I am proud of the work the House put in to pass this critical piece of legislation. This is Maryland’s response to the Trump Administration’s attempts to derail democracy and we must ensure the people’s voices are heard loud and clear.”
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) echoed those sentiments in his statement on the matter, which was released shortly after the bill passed.
“The House took an important step to strengthen our democracy and ensure Maryland’s representation reflects the will of the people,” said Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) in a statement shortly after the bill passed. “Republican leaders are already moving aggressively to further redraw maps ahead of 2026. And with the U.S. Supreme Court poised to issue rulings that could weaken key voting rights protections, we cannot afford to sit on the sidelines.”
“Now it’s time for the Maryland State Senate to do what Marylanders expect and democracy demands: take up this map, debate it, improve it if needed—and vote,” he added.
After the bill passed the House it crossed over to the Senate, where it would normally get assigned to a committee, receive another hearing, and come back to the Senate for a vote by the full chamber before it could be sent to the governor’s desk.
Though the Senate did not address HB 488 on the Senate floor during their Feb. 3 meeting, the bill was assigned to the Senate Rules Committee. The committee currently has no official hearings on their calendar and will likely not schedule one for this bill at all.
“The Senate has been in the same place really since October 2025, after analyzing the impact of the state constitution on this question,” State Senate President William “Bill” Ferguson (D-Md.-46) told the AFRO.
Ferguson said “there is a fundamental agreement that we are all unbelievably concerned about what the Trump administration is doing to Marylanders and the harms that are being caused in Maryland. The Maryland Senate is just as outraged as our colleagues.”
Ferguson said what’s important in this moment is prioritizing.
“We have to focus our limited time and energy on prioritizing things we know can best protect Marylanders,” he said. “We’re focusing on making sure that we can find ways to make Maryland more affordable when it comes to energy, healthcare and housing. We’re trying to find ways to grow our economy to get more people to work, and then also make sure that we’re protecting with real policies that have tangible impact against the Trump administration.”
“That’s where we are focusing our time,” added Ferguson. “Redistricting…that window has been closed.”