Democrats eye Maryland and Illinois as Republicans press forward with redistricting push

As Republicans across the country pursue new congressional maps to boost their party ahead of next year's midterm elections, Democrats are ramping up pressure on states where they can respond.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has held discussions with members of the Maryland delegation and Democratic Gov. Wes Moore in recent weeks about possible mid-decade redistricting efforts, according to a source with knowledge of the conversations. The source also said Jeffries spoke with members of the Illinois delegation about drawing new district lines, as Politico first reported.

Maryland has just one Republican, Rep. Andy Harris, in its eight-member House delegation. And in Illinois, where Democrats control 14 of the state's 17 districts, GOP Rep. Mary Miller's seat is the potential target, the source said.

Democrats have previously floated Illinois and Maryland, where the party has full control of state government, as states where they could counter Republicans' moves in Texas, Missouri and elsewhere.

But Democrats are feeling renewed pressure to act as Republican lawmakers in states like North Carolina, Indiana and Kansas weigh new maps aimed at shoring up the party's narrow U.S. House majority.

"The pressure will become greater with every additional red state that heeds Trump's call," said Maryland state Sen. Clarence Lam, a Democrat who introduced a bill to redraw the state's maps this summer.

"One way or another, there's a very live redistricting conversation happening in Maryland in the coming legislative session, both for 2026 and for 2028 and beyond," Maryland House Majority Leader David Moon added.

Moore and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker have been hesitant to call legislative sessions to address redistricting even as they remain publicly open to the idea.

“Governor Moore and Leader Jeffries talk regularly about a variety of issues,” Moore spokesman David Turner said. “What happened in Texas and is now spreading to other Republican-controlled states like Missouri is nothing more than a power grab by Donald Trump. We are monitoring the situation closely, and Governor Moore has been clear that all options are on the table when it comes to ensuring that Marylanders have fair and honest representation.”

Pritzker's office did not respond to a request for comment.

Texas Republicans, at President Donald Trump's urging, were the first to move on the issue over the summer, enacting a new map that could net the party as many as five additional House seats. Missouri Republicans passed a map last month that could allow them to pick up one new seat, though opponents are pursuing a referendum petition that would give voters final say over whether it goes into effect.

So far, California is the only Democratic-led state that's taken concrete steps to respond. State lawmakers are putting a new congressional map before voters in November that could allow Democrats to pick up five seats.

In a news conference Tuesday, Jeffries expressed confidence that the ballot measure would pass and that other Democratic-controlled states would follow California's lead.

"We are not going to let Republicans successfully rig the midterm elections," Jeffries said. "California is just the first Democratic state to respond. It will not be the last."

Still, Democrats control fewer state governments, and fewer redistricting processes, and could risk a "dummymander" — a gerrymander that benefits one's political opponent — if they are too aggressive in map drawing.

In Illinois in particular, Democrats will need to move quickly if they hope to have new maps in place for the 2026 elections, as the candidate filing deadline is Nov. 3.

After having announced plans this week to vote on a new map, North Carolina GOP legislative leaders released their proposal Thursday seeking to make the district represented by Democratic Rep. Don Davis more Republican. The state is represented by 10 Republicans and four Democrats. Democratic Gov. Josh Stein does not have veto power in the redistricting process.

Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance made his second visit to Indiana, where Democrats control two of the state's nine House seats, last week to discuss redistricting with officials there, a source familiar with the visit said. GOP Gov. Mike Braun has not yet outlined a timeline for a possible special legislative session on the topic.

In Kansas, lawmakers this week approved nearly a half-million dollars for a potential special session on redistricting. Republicans there are targeting the district held by Rep. Sharice Davids, Kansas' lone Democratic representative in Congress. GOP lawmakers have an additional hurdle in Kansas: They would need two-thirds support to circumvent Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly.

Kansas Republicans were among a group of lawmakers who visited the White House on Wednesday for a state leadership conference.

“Instead of figuring out how to get Kansans the health care that they need, these guys are worried about doing Donald Trump’s bidding for a political power grab,” Davids said in an interview.

In Utah, the GOP-led Legislature was forced to redraw its congressional maps by a state court, which said the current lines violate the state's anti-gerrymandering rules. Republican lawmakers last week passed a new map, which is under judicial rule, that seeks to protect Utah's all-GOP House delegation but could lead to two slightly more competitive districts.

Utah Republicans are also trying to repeal those anti-gerrymandering rules, which went into place after voters approved Proposition 4 in 2018, with a ballot initiative. To get a repeal measure on the 2026 ballot, Republicans would need to gather more than 140,000 signatures in around a month, a huge feat.

Elsewhere, Ohio’s bipartisan redistricting committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday, though the Republican majority has yet to introduce a new map. They’ve already missed the first deadline for redrawing a bipartisan map. If the commission fails to advance a map by the end of November, a simple majority in the Republican-controlled state Legislature would be able to pass a map without Democrats’ backing, potentially giving Republicans additional seats in Congress.

An even bigger sea change on redistricting could be on the way if the Supreme Court chooses to completely overturn Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, as justices signaled they might do Wednesday. Section 2 allows voters to sue if lawmakers deny or limit their voting rights on the basis of race, color or language. The law only requires voters to prove a discriminatory result, a lower bar than proving an intentional effort to discriminate.

Voting rights advocates Fair Fight Action and Black Voters Matter Fund estimated in a recent report that Republicans could head into the midterms with 27 new safe seats, with Section 2 being off the table accounting for 19 of them.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com