On Thursday, Maryland's overwhelmingly Democratic legislature overrode GOP Gov. Larry Hogan's veto and passed a gerrymander that locks in Democrats' advantages in seven of eight districts and makes Freedom Caucus GOP Rep. Andy Harris's Eastern Shore 1st CD more competitive. But it's far from a "maximal" gerrymander: to some Democrats' dismay, it still leaves Harris the favorite for reelection — at least in 2022.
Hogan, who has crusaded for reform and propped up his own "citizen's commission," has called the map a disgrace. He's backing a lawsuit in hopes Maryland's Court of Appeals, stacked with his own appointees, will break precedent and strike it down.
But some senior Democrats are furious that the map leaves Harris, whom they view as a gun-toting, Ivermectin-prescribing insurrection sympathizer, with a path to remain in Congress at all. The map connects the rural Eastern Shore with diverse suburbs of Harford and Anne Arundel counties, shifting it from Trump +20 to a scant Biden +0.4, 48.9 percent to 48.5 percent. But with some slight changes, Democrats could have drawn it to be Biden +15
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