Maryland Voters Approve Question 3, Opening the Door to New Congressional Maps

Maryland voters approved Question 3 on Tuesday, November 3, a constitutional amendment that gives state lawmakers wider freedom when they draw the state's congressional districts. The Associated Press called the result at 9:35 p.m., with the For side holding a wide lead over Against, The Baltimore Banner reported.

In the State Board of Elections update at 3:44 a.m. on Wednesday, For had 1,079,738 votes, 60.05 percent, and Against had 718,333, 39.95 percent. The totals are unofficial. In Baltimore County, which is split among Districts 1, 2 and 7, For led with 134,485 votes to 101,933 Against.

What the amendment changes

Question 3 draws no new lines. It amends the state constitution to clarify that the requirements for compact districts that respect natural and political boundaries apply only to districts for the Maryland Senate and House of Delegates, and that the constitution sets no criteria for congressional boundaries. It also lets the General Assembly give the Supreme Court of Maryland original jurisdiction to review a congressional plan. Any new map still has to pass the legislature.

A year of fighting over one seat

Gov. Wes Moore pushed for more than a year to redraw the map so Democrats could hold all eight of Maryland's House seats instead of seven. The seat in his sights is District 1, held by Republican Andy Harris, who won reelection on Tuesday. The district is based on the Eastern Shore and also takes in part of Baltimore County and northern Maryland. A redraw is expected to target that seat, CBS News reported, and the General Assembly could act in its next session, ahead of the 2028 primaries.

The measure reached the ballot in a special session in August. Republicans sued to keep it off the ballot, and the Maryland Supreme Court upheld the plan to put it to a vote. Senate President Bill Ferguson, a Baltimore Democrat, opposed midcycle redistricting in an October 2025 letter and held out for months. He and other Democratic opponents came around after the U.S. Supreme Court in May gutted most of the Voting Rights Act, the Banner reported. Former President Barack Obama cut a television ad urging a yes vote in the final days.

Praise, anger and the next fight

On Tuesday night Moore dismissed the "naysayers and hand-wringers" who had doubted the measure, the Banner reported. "Question 3 is our way of pushing back," he said before the election. "Question 3 is our way of saying that Donald Trump does not get to control elections, the people of Maryland do." Moore told supporters he still hates partisan gerrymandering, but he defended the amendment's passage, The Diamondback reported.

Opponents called the result a power grab. "They've only made our state less special, less united, and more like every other state they claim to loathe," Doug Mayer, a senior advisor to Protect Maryland Votes, the group that opposed Question 3, said in a statement. Dan Cox, the Republican nominee for governor, argued before Election Day that the change would harm unaffiliated voters. Nearly a quarter of Maryland's roughly 4.3 million voters are unaffiliated.

Nothing changes for voters today. The Washington Examiner reported that Ferguson has emerged as a key obstacle to a new map drawn for an 8 to 0 Democratic advantage, so the fight over the lines themselves is still ahead in Annapolis.