Maryland redistricting news: Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson (D) won’t move forward with redistricting even as he acknowledged that President Donald Trump’s national push to add more GOP House seats is a major threat to Democrats.
“Despite deeply shared frustrations about the state of our country, mid-cycle redistricting for Maryland presents a reality where the legal risks are too high, the timeline for action is dangerous, the downside risk to Democrats is catastrophic, and the certainty of our existing map would be undermined,” Ferguson said in a letter to Maryland senators late Tuesday night.
This a win for GOP Rep. Andy Harris, the House Freedom Caucus chair who many Maryland Democrats want to redistrict out next year.
But Ferguson argued such a move faces legal challenges and could disrupt the state’s 2026 election calendar.
Maryland’s Democratic Gov. Wes Moore — a possible 2028 White House hopeful — and Maryland House Speaker Adrienne Jones are pro-redistricting, so Ferguson’s stance puts him in conflict with those two powerful Democrats.
We’ll have more on this in the Midday edition.
Big Apple ads: We have two new ads in the New York mayoral race.
The first is from Fix the City, a PAC designed to boost former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. This spot urges voters to not “waste their vote on Curtis Sliwa,” the GOP candidate for mayor.
“Want to stop Mamdani from slashing the police and killing jobs?” the ad asks. “Sliwa has zero chance. Face it, a vote for Sliwa is a vote for Mamdani.”
The next ad is from Zohran Mamdani’s campaign. The spot features a number of Fox News segments playing on various televisions.
“I’m the actual Zohran Mamdani, not the guy they talk about on this channel,” Mamdani says in the spot.
“My radical agenda? Turn the page on the billionaire backed politics of Andrew Cuomo. Make the city affordable, tackle government waste, keep New York safe, and deliver on our promises with universal childcare, rent that you can afford, and a property tax system that actually makes sense. So don’t be fooled by the noise. This is who I am, and you’re who I’m fighting for.”
