Wes Moore: ‘We need to have national redistricting reform’

State Watch Wes Moore: ‘We need to have national redistricting reform’ Comments: by Ryan Mancini - 08/06/26 9:05 AM ET Comments: Link copied by Ryan Mancini - 08/06/26 9:05 AM ET Comments: Link copied

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Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) on Wednesday said the U.S. needs “national redistricting reform,” the same day that he signed a bill passed by state lawmakers redrawing the Old Line State’s congressional map ahead of the midterms.

The measure will be on the ballot in November and could potentially eliminate Rep. Andy Harris’s (R-Md.) district — the only GOP-held seat in the state. Democrats hold the other seven districts.

“I think we need to have national redistricting reform,” Moore told NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo in an interview. “I think that this is something that Congress needs to move on, should have moved on already.”

The governor added that “only 8 percent of all congressional districts are even competitive,” with Democratic and Republican candidates typically facing challenges from the left and the right, respectively, both of which emphasize the need for change.

“What that does is in these congressional races, it pushes everybody to the corners and then it makes our politics impossible to be able to manage because you then have people who are just doing these full sprints to their flanks,” he told the “CUOMO” host.

Moore also opposed President Trump’s directive to Republican-led states last year to redraw their state congressional maps in order to maintain control of Congress after the midterms.

“When he’s talking about things like putting federal agents around ballot boxes, knowing that’s voter intimidation, when you’re talking about saying that Republican states, certain Republican states should do make it mid-decade redistricting, but Democratic states should sit on their hands like we’re not watching this,” he continued. “These aren’t subtle moves. These are very deliberate and intentional moves.”

Cuomo challenged Moore on doing “exactly what you oppose” by approving Maryland’s new map.

“No, what I think is it’s responding to what we’re seeing and the conditions on the ground, which I think we have an imperative to do,” the Democrat answered. “We would not be having this conversation had it not been for Donald Trump and [Vice President] JD Vance deciding to look to rig the rules so they can make this pain permanent.”

Moore said voters should have a final say, and that democracy should not be decided by Trump nor, “frankly, the political bosses … on the Democratic side, either.”

“If the people of Maryland decide in November that they want to have an alteration to our Constitution, then we will go forward and do that,” he added. “If the people of Maryland say they don’t, then we won’t. But we’re not going to do this because of an edict from the President of the United States.”

Maryland’s state House on Tuesday voted 96-38 and the Senate voted 32-13 to approve the bill. Republicans in the state Assembly broadly opposed the plan but struggled to stall the effort amid Democrats’ majorities in both chambers.

Harris, before the bill passed the state House, called it “hyperpartisan gerrymandering” in a post on the social platform X.

The ballot measure is part of a broader fight after Republican-friendly redistricting in Texas and a Democrat-led response in California last year launched the nationwide arms race over redistricting.