BALTIMORE — A Maryland lawmaker plans to introduce legislation that would require the state to redraw its congressional maps if another state adopts new ones mid-decade, specifically targeting recent redistricting efforts in Texas.
WATCH: Texas redistricting battle impacting Maryland politics
Maryland Democratic Delegate David Moon of Montgomery County said he's preparing the bill as a direct response to redistricting actions happening in other states.
"The other states are now unfortunately forced to respond to what's going on, not just in Texas, but the president's asking numerous state leaders to engage in this unfortunate downward spiral," Moon said.
Redistricting typically occurs following the U.S. Census every 10 years, with members of both major parties engaging in intense negotiations over district boundaries that can significantly impact election outcomes based on voter demographics.
University of Maryland Government Professor James Gimpel explained the potential impact of mid-decade redistricting efforts.
"You can only pick up a few seats but through a mid-decade redistricting. Even five Republican seats in Texas might be a bit of a stretch. If they get four of those five, if they get three of those five, you know, they might count that as a victory. We're just in games and everything, but when it's this close, when three or four seats could make the difference and who controls the house," Gimpel said.
Republican Delegate Ryan Nawrocki argues that Republicans in Maryland are already underrepresented in Congress and the state legislature. Currently, Rep. Andy Harris is the only Republican congressman from Maryland, while Democrats hold a veto-proof supermajority in Annapolis.
"Just about a decade or two ago we had four, and we had an even delegation of four Democrats and four Republicans. We're down to one through extreme partisan gerrymandering already, so to try to limit that to none is just not helpful for the state, frankly would limit a lot of people to have representation, over a million people voted for President Trump in this state. 26% of the state is registered Republican, which should actually probably mean that we should have two Republican congressmen in this state, not zero," Nawrocki said.
Moon is also proposing legislation to form an interstate agreement preventing mid-decade redistricting.
"The 50 states could band together and actually lock in a rule that we only do this once per decade. But in the meantime, I think we can't have Maryland with an arm tied behind its back while Texas, Missouri, and any other state is free to do whatever it wants," Moon said.
Maryland's legislature isn't scheduled to meet until January of next year, which would be late in the election process to implement changes to district maps.
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