Overview
- The Democratic‑led General Assembly approved the referendum during a rare summer special session, sending House Bill 2100 to the governor after final votes of 96-38 in the House and 32-13 in the Senate on Tuesday.
- The proposed constitutional change would remove state rules that require congressional districts to be compact and to respect natural or political boundaries, leaving federal law as the main constraint on map drawing.
- Democratic leaders said the move responds to recent legal and political shifts, including a U.S. Supreme Court ruling this spring that altered Voting Rights Act enforcement and repeated Republican mid‑decade redistricting efforts nationally.
- Republicans strongly opposed the measure, offered dozens of amendments that were rejected, and complained the special session and time limits curtailed debate and other legislation.
- If voters ratify the amendment in November, lawmakers could pursue new congressional maps for the 2028 cycle and any legal challenges to those maps would go directly to the Maryland Supreme Court, making court fights likely.