Wes Moore Presses Maryland Voters to Back Redistricting Measure as 2028 Talk Swirls

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is widely expected to win a second term on Nov. 3, but he is nonetheless working hard on a separate contest at home. Voters will decide a ballot question that would let state Democratic leaders redraw congressional district lines to favor their party even more than the current 7-1 map does.

Moore and his allies, including former President Barack Obama, are presenting a yes vote on Question 3 as a way to fight back against President Donald Trump and Republicans. That pitch might ordinarily resonate in a solidly Democratic state, but support for the measure appears weaker than Moore and other Maryland Democrats had hoped. A significant late push is now under way. A defeat would be a notable setback for Moore, who is the subject of broad speculation about a possible 2028 presidential bid.

The path to the ballot was bumpy. Moore and his allies in Annapolis wanted to redraw the lines this year, arguing the Legislature could craft a map favoring Democrats in all eight districts in response to Republican redistricting efforts elsewhere. State Senate President Bill Ferguson, also a Democrat, halted that plan, saying a majority of senators did not back it. He noted that a Democratic attempt at a friendlier map in 2021 was thrown out by a state judge in 2022.

In August, Ferguson and other legislative Democrats overwhelmingly voted to ask voters to remove the requirement that congressional districts follow natural boundaries such as the Chesapeake Bay. The state's only GOP member of the U.S. House, Andy Harris, represents a district concentrated on the Eastern Shore. After a legal challenge, Maryland's Supreme Court allowed the question onto the ballot in a form rewritten by state judges.

A poll released this month by the University of Maryland, Baltimore County found 53% of likely voters planned to vote no. That included 42% of Democrats, 74% of Republicans and 59% of unaffiliated voters. Mileah Kromer, director of the UMBC Institute of Politics, said the survey used plain language rather than the ballot's legal wording and still found broad opposition. She suggested many Democrats want to confront Trump but may not see redistricting as the right tool, especially since Maryland Democrats would gain only one seat. She also cautioned that the poll predated heavy spending on advertising.

That spending has since begun. Fight Back MD, a group backing the measure, has spent $550,000 on TV ads this month, according to AdImpact. Moore's campaign switched its advertising from his own re-election to Question 3 last week, with a $700,000 ad featuring state Democratic leaders. On Monday it added a $500,000 TV and digital ad featuring Obama.

Ferguson is noticeably absent from the effort. He has not publicly or privately committed to pursuing new maps next session if the measure passes, according to the article, and an operative familiar with the campaign said some donors have hesitated as a result. His communications director, David Schuhlein, said Ferguson is "primarily focused on retaining our Democratic state Senate seats and also trying to build on that and gain one or two more."

Moore has long played down presidential ambitions. Last year he told NBC News' "Meet the Press," "Yeah, I'm not running for president." In a debate this month with Republican Dan Cox, a former state delegate, he did not commit to serving a full second term, saying only that he would not be running if he were not committed to Maryland's people. Republicans and the state's conservative Freedom Caucus have accused him of pursuing redistricting to advance his White House hopes.

Some allies say a loss would not damage a future run. A national Democratic strategist said it is hard to imagine people outside Maryland caring much. Michael Hanmer, director of the Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement at the University of Maryland, agreed that average voters would not notice, but warned that opponents could use a failure against Moore, asking why he could not flip even one seat.