Democrats are facing a midterm election that could end the political careers for an untold number of representatives.
That means they’re entering full-blown panic mode.
And they’re working frantically to stack the odds in their favor.
Maryland Democrats already had a judge toss out their redistricting plan due to “extreme partisan gerrymandering.”
So they spent this past weekend feverishly working to push their luck as far as they dare to benefit their party.
It’s an extreme effort to keep the ratio of Democrats to Republicans at 7 to 1 when it comes to the state’s Congressional delegation.
“This map barely gives lip service to Judge Battaglia’s ruling,” Baltimore Republican Delegate Kathy Szeliga said.
She’s one of the lawmakers who joined in filing the lawsuit over the first map and she says this new version is “still an extreme gerrymander.”
Democrats claim they’ve created more compact districts and reduced the number of counties crossed inside districts.
Democrats are hoping adding more voters on the Left to the only district represented by a Republican will benefit them in the end.
An appeal has already been filed so the new map will get its day in court.
This is a Hail Mary effort for the lawmakers since their deadline to get a new map submitted was Wednesday.
Their first version was so awful the judge issued a 94-page ruling, which outlined the ways in which Democrats violated Maryland’s state Constitution in the process of jockeying for position by redefining the rules of the game rather than actually serving voters in some meaningful way.
Things are such a mess in Maryland that the state’s Supreme Court already delayed the primary until July 19.
It’s a high stakes election year for the blue state with all eight Congressional Representative seats and one Senator’s seat up for grabs.
Key state offices will also be filled including Governor, Attorney General, and Comptroller.
According to Politico, “States are redrawing every congressional district in the U.S.”
Politico calculates there will be 176 districts supportive of Biden, 152 districts with strong Trump supporters, and 61 districts where it’s too competitive to make a judgment call.
Nancy Pelosi is counting on the Democrats’ feverish efforts to gain a strategic advantage to overcome polling that shows Democrats’ support is flagging going into the midterms.
Stay tuned to Blue State Blues for any updates to this ongoing story.
