Redistricting in Maryland

Here’s how new congressional maps shift voting power in every state

By Janie Boschma, Renée Rigdon, Byron Manley and Ethan Cohen, CNN. Additional reporting and design by Melissa DePalo, Eleanor Stubbs and Christopher Hickey, CNN

Last updated: November 8, 2022

Every 10 years, states redraw the boundaries of their congressional districts to reflect new population counts from the census. Maryland’s final map, which Republican Gov. Larry Hogan signed into law, makes the 6th Congressional District in western Maryland more competitive for Republicans.

Democrats in the state legislature initially passed a map over Hogan’s veto that would have made the 1st District on the Eastern Shore — the only seat in the state currently represented by a Republican — much more competitive. However, a state judge blocked the Democrats’ map as “a product of extreme partisan gerrymandering” and ordered the legislature to draw a new one.

How the districts voted in 2020, by presidential vote margin in percentage points

Democratic

30+
15+
5+

Competitive

Within 5

Republican

5+
15+
30+

Old map 8 districts

In the old congressional map, there are 7 Democratic, 0 competitive and 1 Republican districts.

Change

Change in Democratic districts: 0

Change in Competitive districts: 0

Change in Republican districts: 0

New map 8 districts

In the new congressional map, there are 7 Democratic, 0 competitive and 1 Republican districts.

How the new map shifts voting power by demographic

Maryland will continue to have eight seats in the House. Its new map creates two Black-majority seats — the 7th District, home to Baltimore, and the 4th District, which includes portions of Prince George’s County outside the District of Columbia.

Number of White-majority districts
Old Map
4
New Map
4
A chart showing the number of White-majority districts has remained the same with 4.
Black-majority districts
0
2
A chart showing the number of Black-majority districts has increased by 2, for a total of 2.
No group has majority
4
2
A chart showing the number of districts where no group has a majority has decreased by 2, for a total of 2

The group that represents the majority in each district

White
Black
No group has majority

About the data

Sources: US Census Bureau, Edison Research, each state’s legislature or other redistricting authority, Voting and Election Science Team via Harvard University’s Dataverse

Methodology note: Vote margins for new congressional districts are determined by calculating precinct-level vote totals for each district. If a new district splits a precinct, block-level voting-age population is used to allocate that precinct’s votes to the new districts. Block-level demographic data from the 2020 census is reaggregated into each new district’s boundaries.