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The lone House Republican in Maryland’s congressional delegation is warning that his state could lose its main connection to the White House if Democrats there made good on threats to redraw district lines.
“Right now, as the sole Republican representative, I’m the liaison between the state and the executive branch and the legislative branch, and that would be lost if they went to single-party representation,” Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., told Fox News Digital. “I don’t think Marylanders are going to put up with that.”
Maryland is one of the latest states threatening to jump into the growing redistricting war that’s taking over U.S. politics.
Texas Republicans are moving to change the Lone Star State’s congressional map with a proposal that could give the GOP as many as five new seats in the House of Representatives.
GOP GOVERNOR NOMINEE PUSHES REDISTRICTING TO OUST STATE’S LONE HOUSE DEM
Democratic strongholds California and New York have threatened to make their own changes in response, which would sidestep independent redistricting commissions in both states.
Since then, the fight has spilled over to a number of other states, particularly those with lopsided congressional representation, like Maryland.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s office told Fox News Digital that the Democratic leader “will continue to evaluate all options as states around the country make decisions regarding redistricting,” while blasting Texas’ move as a “power grab.”
“Look, the governor talks a lot about bipartisanship. Obviously, that would not be a bipartisan bill, to attempt to make it a single-party delegation,” Harris told Fox News Digital. “And, you know, an attempt at that in 2022 failed in the courts. I think an attempt to that this time might fail again.”
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Harris was wary of a wider redistricting fight across the country, but accused Democrats – not Texas Republicans – of starting the battle.
“I think that we should probably shy away from mid-cycle redistricting,” Harris said.
He added, however, “Look, the Democrats started it. I’m not surprised that Texas wants to do what they want to do.”
Harris pointed to states like Alabama, where a lengthy court battle led to the ruby-red state drawing in a second Democrat-leaning district ahead of the 2024 elections.
Voting rights groups had argued that an existing map by Republicans unfairly violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act by suppressing Black voters’ representation in the state. It resulted in Alabama adopting a court-approved map with two majority-Black districts, both of which are currently represented by Democrats.
“The bottom line is that the Democrats started the discussion about whether or not redistricting would be accomplished mid-cycle,” Harris argued.
And despite his wariness of the practice now, Harris praised President Donald Trump’s call for a snap census that would exclude anyone in the U.S. illegally.
“I think Americans should realize that if we weren’t counting illegal aliens in our census, there would be 10 to 12, maybe 15 fewer Democrats in the House of Representatives,” Harris said.
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