<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Governor Wes Moore (D-MD) and Maryland Democrats are moving closer to potentially ousting the state’s only House Republican following a state Supreme Court ruling that allows a redistricting question to appear on the ballot for the November elections.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In an effort to protect his congressional seat from being redrawn in favor of Democrats in 2028, Representative Andy Harris (R-MD) plans to reach out to former Governor Larry Hogan, a centrist Republican who left office in 2023 with high bipartisan approval ratings.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“I’ll be contacting the former governor,” Harris stated in a phone interview with the Washington Examiner on Friday. “I would hope that he would take a leading position to try to defeat this referendum, because it will take some outside influences to overcome the bias that the Democrat-controlled state Supreme Court put in that wording.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The Maryland Supreme Court’s ruling on Thursday upheld lower-court judges' findings that the wording of the ballot question, which proposes a constitutional amendment for redistricting, is misleading and violates due process requirements. The amendment aims to enable Democrats to gain one additional seat in the 2028 elections.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Despite the majority justices’ opinion that allowed the question to proceed after revising the language, dissenting justices argued that the wording remains misleading. The court is composed of five justices appointed by Hogan and two appointed by Democrats.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“The problem is that the wording is very deceptive,” said Harris, who leads the Freedom Caucus and is aligned with a different faction of the Republican Party than Hogan. “If a voter just depends upon what they read at the polling booth or on their absentee ballot, they’re going to be deceived into thinking this is not about creating extreme partisan gerrymandering.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Hogan has largely stepped back from political involvement since his 2024 Senate loss to now-Senator Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD). However, he has occasionally expressed his views on state matters, particularly when they conflict with Maryland’s Democratic leaders. He has criticized the redistricting effort, accusing Moore and state Democrats of hypocrisy for adopting gerrymandering tactics they previously condemned in other states.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“This redistricting is not about election reform. It isn’t about fairness, and it isn’t about righting a past wrong,” Hogan wrote in an op-ed for the Baltimore Sun in August. “It is an attempt by the political monopoly in Annapolis to change the law so they can realize their goal of pushing the last Republican member of Congress out of office. Not by convincing voters to support a Democratic candidate, but by packing more Democrats into a district that tends to vote Republican.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Hogan and Harris discussed the redistricting effort during a special session, according to a source familiar with the discussions. Following the Maryland Supreme Court ruling, Hogan reiterated his opposition in a social media post.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“Marylanders, regardless of party, should say NO to extreme partisan gerrymandering,” Hogan posted. “NO to politics as usual. NO to being the worst in America. We are better than this.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Moore has made redistricting a key focus of his reelection campaign and is considered a potential candidate for the 2028 presidential election. He praised the court's decision as a measure to protect democracy from former President Donald Trump, who has encouraged GOP-led states to pursue mid-cycle redistricting in their favor.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“Our democracy should not be run by Donald Trump, and our democracy should not be run by party bosses,” Moore told reporters on Friday. “Our democracy should be run by the people, and that the people should be the ones to have the final say as to how our democracy and how our freedoms are going to be protected.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Harris and state Republicans may still challenge the new map next year if voters approve the state constitutional amendment in November. However, Harris indicated that defeating Question 3 on the ballot may be the only viable option to prevent an all-Democratic U.S. House delegation.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“Unfortunately, the relatively biased position that the state Supreme Court took on this issue means that they might take the same biased position on a challenge to an extremely partisan, gerrymandered map,” Harris said.</p>