The Maryland General Assembly voted on Aug. 4 to send a ballot measure to voters in November that would provide that constitutional requirements for contiguity, compactness, substantially equal population, and consideration of natural and political subdivision boundaries apply only to state legislative districts, not congressional districts, and that the Maryland Constitution establishes no criteria for congressional district boundaries. It would also allow the General Assembly to grant the state Supreme Court original jurisdiction over challenges to congressional redistricting plans. The amendment would not affect the 2026 election cycle.
The amendment, House Bill 2100, passed on the second day of the special legislative session by a vote of 96-38 in the state House and by a vote of 32-13 in the state Senate. The votes were largely along party lines.
Maryland was apportioned eight seats in the U.S. House of Representatives after the 2020 census, the same number it received after the 2010 census. In Maryland, the primary authority to draw both congressional and state legislative district lines rests with the state legislature.
