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The Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission, created by Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) to draw up maps that he will propose to the General Assembly, finalized its redistricting proposals at a Wednesday evening meeting.
Commission members voted 8-1 to approve of congressional maps and unanimously to approve legislative maps at the meeting. Those maps, which are available聽, are vastly different from the state鈥檚 current configuration because commissioners started from scratch and didn鈥檛 use existing districts to begin with.
Commission members weren鈥檛 allowed to consider partisan district makeup when creating the maps, but their congressional maps received high marks for partisan fairness from the聽. The congressional map creates six Democratic and two Republican districts as opposed to the current 7-1 configuration, according to the Princeton Gerrymandering Project鈥檚 Redistricting Report Card. That report also rated the commission鈥檚 state senate maps highly in October, although panelists have since made changes to the legislative map and the group hasn鈥檛 reviewed the finalized version yet.
The commission is composed of three Republicans, three Democrats and three unaffiliated voters, and has been conducting public hearings on redistricting since June. Hogan has said he will submit the commission鈥檚 maps to the General Assembly, where Democrats hold a veto-proof majority in both the House of Delegates and the Senate. Lawmakers have formed their聽, the Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission, to conduct public hearings and draw up congressional and legislative maps.
Here are a few takeaways from the Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission鈥檚 final redistricting proposal:
County splits are minimized compared with current congressional maps
Keeping communities and neighborhoods intact was a聽聽from residents throughout the commission鈥檚 public hearings, and commissioners said Wednesday evening that they tried to minimize county splits as much as possible in their proposed maps.
Under the state鈥檚聽, Baltimore City is split between the 2nd, 3rd and 7th Districts. The city would be contained within a single congressional district alongside portions of northern Anne Arundel County in the commission鈥檚 proposed maps.
Commission member William Thomas (D), a Baltimore City resident, was the only commission member to vote against the congressional proposal. Thomas said he was 鈥渄isappointed鈥� that he received little feedback on the congressional maps from city residents, and added that he couldn鈥檛 be sure the map accurately reflected what Baltimore residents want in their congressional configuration. He said he would鈥檝e preferred an east-west split for Baltimore in the commission鈥檚 maps.
Anne Arundel County, currently split between four congressional districts, would also be kept more intact: Aside from neighborhoods included in a district with Baltimore City, the county is contained within a single district with all of Howard County and a small portion of northern Calvert County in the proposed maps.
Baltimore County, which is also split between four congressional districts in current maps, would be split between two districts from north to south. The northern portions of the county are included with the Eastern Shore in the 1st District, and the southern half of the county has its own self-contained district.
Northern portions of Montgomery County are kept in a district with Western Maryland, although that district would include all of Frederick and Carroll counties. Most of Montgomery County would include a self-contained district extending from Germantown to east of Aspen Hill. The eastern portion of the county, including Silver Spring and White Oak, would be included in a district with northern Prince George鈥檚 county.
Roughly the southern half of Prince George鈥檚 County is included in a district with Charles, St. Mary鈥檚 and Calvert counties.
The legislative map includes both single- and multi-member delegate districts
In his executive聽聽creating the commission earlier this year, Hogan said single-member delegate districts should be used in the map 鈥渢o the extent possible.鈥� After weeks of debate, panelists decided to use a mix of single- and multi-member districts based on population density.
Eighteen of 47 state Senate districts contain three-member delegate districts in the Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission鈥檚 proposed maps.
The commission鈥檚 proposed delegate map generally includes multi-member House districts in counties with a population density of more than 2,000 per square mile, commission Co-Chair Walter Olson (R) previously said.
There are various exceptions to the use of multi-member districts in the commission鈥檚 map: Single-member districts are used as required by the federal Voting Rights Act to ensure representation of people of color, and a Senate district of fewer than 500 people per square mile that is in a county with a population density of more than 2,000 per square mile will have single-member House districts. That exclusion would affect the Agricultural Reserve in northern Montgomery County, which would include single-member districts.
Single-member House districts are also used in all districts that cross county lines except District 39, which crosses from Prince George鈥檚 County into Charles County, because the population on the Charles County side of the district is too low to 鈥渕ake up the core of a single-member district,鈥� according to a previous email from Maryland Department of Planning Public Affairs Director Kristin R. Fleckenstein.
The Maryland constitution allows state delegate districts with between one and three members, and the state currently uses a mix of both single- and multi-member districts. Delegate districts must be nested within state Senate districts in Maryland, with three delegates per Senate district. Potential configurations include three single-member delegate districts within a Senate district; one single-member delegate district and a two-member delegate district; and one three-delegate district.
Multi-member districts are more widely used than single-member districts statewide in current legislative maps. Single-member districts are generally used in more rural or geographically large districts or when required by the Voting Rights Act. They are also sometimes used in current maps when a portion of a Senate district crosses county lines.
Proponents of single-member districts who testified during the Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission鈥檚 three rounds of public hearings said they make it easier for political newcomers to challenge incumbents and create more specialized local representation, while proponents of multi-member districts have said they offer voters broader representation and helped the Maryland General Assembly outpace other states in terms of gender and racial diversity.
The MCRC maps are highly unlikely to be enacted
The General Assembly, where Democrats hold a veto-proof majority in both the House of Delegates and the Senate, will have the final say over redistricting in Maryland. Legislative leaders created their own commission, the bipartisan Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission, to draw up their own set of congressional and legislative maps.
The legislative commission includes four Democratic and two Republican legislative leaders and is chaired by Karl Aro, the former director of the nonpartisan Department of Legislative Services. That panel kicked off its public hearings in September, but hasn鈥檛 produced congressional or legislative maps for public comment yet.
贬辞驳补苍听聽last week that he would oppose maps from the General Assembly that 鈥渄on鈥檛 follow what the Citizens Redistricting Commission has come up with.鈥� The governor can veto congressional maps, but Democrats hold a veto-proof majority in both the House of Delegates and Senate and easily overrode his vetoes on several measures during the 2021 legislative session.
Lawmakers are planning a聽聽in December to tackle congressional redistricting. The Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission is set to wrap up its hearings this month before recommending maps to the General Assembly.
