Jeffries Tries to Persuade Wary Maryland Senate Leader on Redistricting

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) traveled to the Maryland State House on Wednesday to personally lobby the state’s Senate president to hold a floor vote on a new congressional map, but left without a commitment as intraparty tensions over mid-cycle redistricting sharpened ahead of a looming candidate filing deadline. Jeffries met with Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson—who has publicly opposed any mid-decade redistricting in Maryland—making the case that the state’s Democratic-controlled Senate should put the map to an up-or-down vote. The map at the center of the fight is House Bill 488, which Maryland’s House of Delegates passed 99–37 on Feb. 2. The legislation implements a new congressional map recommended by a redistricting advisory commission created by Gov. Wes Moore (D). If enacted, the map would give Democrats an 8–0 congressional advantage and eliminate Maryland’s only Republican-held seat, currently represented by Rep. Andy Harris....