Maryland Gov. Wes Moore has committed to being a bipartisan bridgebuilder. But he’s also under pressure to redistrict the state’s one GOP congressman out of his House seat.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Democratic Governor Wes Moore of Maryland campaigned on the slogan, leave no one behind. It references both his time in the military and his openness to working with both parties. Now, Moore is facing pressure to set aside bipartisanship. President Trump wants Republican states to break with tradition and redraw their voting lines before the midterm elections, and Democrats are pressing Moore to make a partisan countermove in deep blue Maryland. WAMU’s Jenny Abamu talked with him about it.
JENNY ABAMU, BYLINE: When asked whether Governor Moore considers himself a progressive or moderate, he bucks at the idea of being labeled. Here he is in our one-on-one interview last week.
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WES MOORE: What is the Democratic platform? What is the Republican platform? I don’t know. I can tell you my beliefs. I can tell you what we’re trying to do in Maryland.
ABAMU: Moore frequently reminds the public that he’s not a career politician, having lived several lives, including as a soldier, investment banker, author and CEO of a philanthropic organization before winning the governorship in 2022. And he’s worked with Republicans. Here’s Ed Rothstein, a Republican who served as county commissioner in conservative Carroll County, Maryland. He serves in Moore’s Cabinet as the secretary of the Department of Veterans and Military Families.
ED ROTHSTEIN: We speak the same language when it comes to loyalty, responsibility, respect, honor, personal courage. You know, these are not just words, but they’re ways of life.
ABAMU: Now, Moore’s promises of bipartisanship are being tested. As President Trump has criticized Baltimore and threatened to send the National Guard, Moore has pushed back. He denied Trump’s claim that Moore praised him in private, tweeting, LOL, you keep telling yourself that.
Then there’s a big question of redistricting. Trump’s urging Republican states to redistrict to help the GOP hold Congress. States usually just redistrict early in each decade after the census. And while Moore didn’t commit to doing it, he told me states can’t get hung up on, quote, “principle” if Trump’s rewriting the rules.
MOORE: I believe deeply that all options need to be on the table in the state of Maryland because if we are going to have specific states – Trump-picked states – saying we should have a process to decide, do we have fair maps, then you know what? So should Maryland.
ABAMU: Already, only one of Maryland’s eight House seats is held by a Republican, so drawing new maps could leave Maryland with no Republicans in Congress even though they make up about 24% of the voters. Brigitta Mullican, the Montgomery County GOP treasurer and a Republican organizer, says the state already gerrymanders to silence Republican voices.
BRIGITTA MULLICAN: I’m not happy about it, but you know what? I personally can’t change any of that. But very disappointing.
ABAMU: In 2022, the court struck down the Democratic legislature’s map for extreme partisan gerrymandering, making it draw a new one then. Mullican wants all politicians to play fair.
MULLICAN: And, you know, they play games on both sides. And my thing is do the right thing. You know, I want our districts to be properly redistricted right, you know?
ABAMU: Many progressive voters, though, like to see their governor taking on the president. Here’s activist Dee Clarkin (ph) from Montgomery County.
DEE CLARKIN: I mean, Trump is a bully, and Governor Moore seems to instinctively understand that, and he is pushing back appropriately. And I have been pleased with that so far.
ABAMU: Clarkin says she sees redistricting in Maryland as a necessary evil. And Democrats around the county are looking toward the midterms as a way to stop Trump’s agenda, which would make it hard for Wes Moore’s leave no one behind motto to survive.
For NPR News, I’m Jenny Abamu.
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