Democrats Pass New Gerrymandered Map Out of Committee
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HB 488 -Election Districts- General Assembly and Representatives in Congress- was introduced in the Rules Committee on Tuesday and was passed out of the committee with all Democrats voting in favor of the bill and all Republicans voting no.
The whole purpose of the bill is to take the Democrats 7-1 advantage in Maryland and give them all eight Congressional seats and take Congressman Andy Harris’ seat.
The bill heads to the House floor
Republicans questioned the new map and Delegate C.T. Wilson during the hearing.
Delegate Jeff Ghrist, who represents Cecil and other Eastern Shore counties wants to know why residents in Cecil County and Harford counties are now going to be paired with residents from Howard County.
Delegate Jesse Pippy pointed out to Wilson that the Governor wanted a fair reflection of the state so how is having zero Republicans a fair representation of Maryland?
Wilson said there was no guarantee that the map will shift to a 8-0 majority and same districts will get closer for Republicans. Pippy laughed at that assumption and said that is not true.
Delegate Kathy Szeliga said the voters of Maryland don’t want this map and 3/4 of the people that testified at the bill hearing opposed this map.
“Of the 532 people who testified in [Tuesday’s] hearing, 76% of them were unfavorable to mid-cycle redistricting,” Szeliga said.
“This process was not fair, and it fails to address the concerns of the majority of Marylanders who don’t support more congressional gerrymandering.”
