Governor Hogan held a press conference on Tuesday to announce a new non-partisan citizen redistricting commission that will work to remove politics from this partisan process.
Here’s what they’re saying about Governor Hogan’s latest action to restore trust in democracy:
Washington Times: “Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced Tuesday that the state is establishing its first Citizen Redistricting Commission to draw legislative and congressional district maps. ‘Nowhere has gerrymandering been allowed to run more rampant than here in the state of Maryland where decades of unfair redistricting and drawing of legislative and congressional districts have made a mockery of the electoral system,’ Mr. Hogan said during a press conference.”
Washington Examiner: “Gerrymandering is regularly derided as a Republican tactic, as when Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court ordered that the state’s districts be redrawn in 2018, but Maryland presents an example of gerrymandering that has given Democrats an edge — a federal judge once described Maryland’s 6th District as ‘a broken-winged pterodactyl, lying prostrate across the center of the state,’ according to WAMU.
Former Gov. Martin O’Malley conceded as much when he testified, ‘It was my intent to create a district where the people would be more likely to elect a Democrat than a Republican.”
Bloomberg: “The commission, which Hogan established by executive order Tuesday, will consist of nine registered Maryland voters — three Democrats, three Republicans, three independents — who will hold regional hearings and submit maps to the state legislature for consideration before the 2022 election.”
Associated Press: “The Republican governor has repeatedly made redistricting reform a priority of his tenure.”