Monday, September 19, 2011

A Leaked Map of Maryland's 2012 Congressional Districts // Potential CD6 Candidates

UPDATE: One nameless lawmaker tells Maryland Juice that senior Democratic officials are pissed by the leak of this map. Does that mean it is real?

Maryland Reporter today purports to release what may be a map previewing Maryland's 2012 Congressional District plan. Not surprisingly, the leaked information reveals a primary goal of trying to unseat GOP Rep. Roscoe Bartlett in CD6. Maryland Juice thinks this provides an opportunity for Dems to float a trial balloon, and we are happy to oblige by printing these rumors.

Better yet, the leaked map is a little grainy and unlabeled, so Maryland Juice retouched the image and added a key. But we encourage everyone to check out the original post at MD Reporter. Discussion of the new districts continues below the map:


The publication of this map is yet one more sign that Democrats appear to be abandoning hopes of defeating GOP Rep. Andy Harris in his Eastern Shore-anchored CD1. Maryland Juice previously discussed CD1 challenger Frank Kratovil's $223 fundraising haul and new job as further evidence of an emerging CD6 plan.

But if the goal is instead to defeat Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, there are only so many ways to peacefully create a Democratic CD6. That's why even if the map above is not the map ultimately adopted in Maryland, it may well foreshadow what the final map will look like -- unless something changes.

Maryland Reporter's analysis of the new districts includes these insights:
  • The map shows almost half of Montgomery County being added to the 6th District, which would also include the most heavily Democratic areas of southern Frederick County, including the city of Frederick.
  • Most of northern Frederick County would be attached to the pink 8th Congressional District, now represented by Rep. Chris Van Hollen, and all of Carroll County would go to the yellow 7th Congressional District, now served by Rep. Elijah Cummings.
  • The light purple  [RED] 2nd Congressional District (Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger), and the orangey 3rd Congressional District (Rep. John Sarbanes) would remain heavily truncated, with Sarbanes picking up more of Howard County. The deep purple 5th District (House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer) would stretch from Point Lookout on the tip of St. Mary’s County to Annapolis.
  • Rep. Donna Edwards in the green 4th Congressional District would lose parts of Montgomery County and pick up part of Anne Arundel, which would remain sliced into four congressional districts – a slicing widely opposed by county residents at the Annapolis hearing of the Governor’s Redistricting Advisory Committee.
The leaked map also tracks elements of the CD6 plan Senator Rich Madaleno described in an exclusive interview with Maryland Juice:







There are still many things that could happen in the redistricting process, so Maryland Juice will be monitoring developments. But in the meantime, we wanted to kick off another round of rumoring by starting to build a shortlist of candidates who could run in the new CD6!

Help Maryland Juice Build a Shortlist of Potential CD6 Contenders

We've previously discussed State Senator Rob Garagiola's attempts to lay the groundwork for a nomination, but it seems hard to imagine that a coveted new Congressional seat wouldn't draw a few more contenders. If you have thoughts, please email them to david@marylandjuice.com or comment below.

I'll start. On the Democratic side, I would imagine former Delegate Mark Shriver would weigh a comeback for the Kennedy clan. Frederick politicians like former Mayoral candidate Jason Judd and State Senator Ron Young might also ponder the opportunity. Likewise, Montgomery Councilmember Phil Andrews might turn his eyes toward CD6, rather than waiting around for CD8.

Any thoughts from Maryland Juice readers? Remember, people might carpetbag for a new U.S. House seat!

1 comment:

  1. Not so different from the map I put up on Maryland Politics Watch at: http://maryland-politics.blogspot.com/2011/03/seven-democratic-districts.html

    ReplyDelete