Despite pressure, top Maryland Democratic lawmaker isn't budging on redistricting

Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson’s pronouncement this week that he wouldn’t pursue a new congressional map has set off a round of infighting in the state Democratic Party

Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson’s pronouncement this week that he wouldn’t pursue a new congressional map has set off a round of infighting in the state Democratic Party.

But even in the face of pressure from Democratic leaders in the state and nationally, Ferguson isn’t budging, saying there aren’t the votes for a mid-decade redistricting push in his chamber.

“I would not be great at my job if I didn’t know where my members stood,” Ferguson said in an interview with NBC News Friday.

Ferguson is one of a small group of lawmakers in Maryland and around the country vocally resisting their party’s demand to redraw congressional lines ahead of next year’s midterm elections, amid a feverish redistricting arms race between Republican- and Democratic-led states.

In a long letter to Senate colleagues on Tuesday evening explaining why he wouldn’t call a special legislative session, Ferguson said “the risk of redrawing the congressional map in Maryland is too high.”