Legislation setting redistricting standards in Maryland could land in court before it lands on a ballot for voters this fall.

The Senate Tuesday gave final approval to  the constitutional amendment that, if approved by voters, would override a 2022 court ruling that some Democrats said hamstrung efforts to redraw the state’s eight congressional districts. Republicans said the bill will result in the loss of the only congressional seat held by a member of their party.

“We’re going to try to get this into the court as soon as we possibly can to try to put any type of delay that we can,” said Senate Minority Leader Stephen S. Hershey Jr. (R-Upper Shore).

Hershey and Senate Minority Whip Sen. Justin Ready (R-Frederick and Carroll) said time is of the essence: The measure has to be to state elections officials Wednesday to make the November ballot.

“This was done at the last minute,” Hershey said Tuesday. “They have to have this ballot language on Aug. 5, which is tomorrow.”

Amendments to the state constitution have to pass by a three-fifths majority of both legislative chambers, and do not require the signature of the governor, but Gov. Wes Moore (D), a supporter of midcycle congressional redistricting, is scheduled to hold a bill signing ceremony anyway Wednesday.

“I continue to believe that our country needs national redistricting reform,” Moore said in a statement praising lawmakers’ passage of the bill. “But until that happens, inaction is not an option. Maryland will not be caught flat-footed while Republicans engage in political redlining that guts decades of progress that the generations before us fought for.

“By passing this constitutional amendment, the General Assembly has ensured that Maryland remains committed to being part of that conversation — and that the final decision will rest where it belongs: with the people of Maryland,” his statement said.

Republicans claim that a provision in the bill passed Tuesday sidesteps a law passed this year that requires constitutional amendments to be simple and to be submitted at the start of July for public review and comment on before being put on the ballot. They also say the bill creates a scenario where future congressional redistricting maps could not be challenged in federal or most state courts.

But Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) said that’s “just patently not the case.”

“What it does is keeps existing law whole in that it says that the U.S. Constitution and federal laws are what apply to congressional maps, which is how it had been for hundreds of years in Maryland until a single court case challenged that certainty,” said Ferguson, who voted for the bill Tuesday after blocking a similar effort earlier this year.

Asked on Tuesday about the potential for legal challenges to the ballot question, House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D- Prince George’s and Anne Arundel) demurred.

“I can’t control and tell you whether there’s going to be a potential legal challenge,” Peña-Melnyk said. “We did this because it was needed.”

She said she believes there is strong evidence that rules for redistricting in the Maryland Constitution were intended only for General Assembly elections.

“It has never included Congress. It’s not mentioned anywhere,” Peña-Melnyk said in a news conference after the House passed the bill early Tuesday.

If voters choose to approve the amendment, it gives Maryland the option to decide whether it will enter the national redistricting fray next year, said House Majority Leader David Moon (D- Montgomery).

“We’ll see what the voters say. Some time after that, you’re going to see additional states beginning to conduct mid-decade redistricting, including maybe states like Indiana that took a pass on it last time,” Moon said. “As we in Maryland sit here watching those other states engage in mid-decade redistricting, we will now have the flexibility, in the same posture as those states, to decide how we want to respond.”

Asked what happens if voters reject the ballot question, Peña-Melnyk said simply, “They say no. The voters, they have spoken.”

Predictions of an impending lawsuit — the Republican leaders made it clear they were not behind it — came after two long days of partisan floor fights. The outcome was never in doubt, as Democrats hold supermajorities in both the House and Senate.

Republicans could do little but lean on procedure and a flurry of amendments — all rejected or ruled out of order.

The final 32-13 Senate vote came hours after the House voted 96-38 Tuesday morning for the bill. It capped a yearlong effort by some Democrats, including Moore and others, who wanted to respond to a flurry of hyperpartisan redistricting touched off by President Donald Trump, when he pushed Texas to redraw congressional maps ahead of midterm elections.

Democratic and Republic states joined in, but Maryland ultimately did not. The issue pitted Moore against Ferguson, who blocked an effort to pass new maps earlier this year.

In doing so, Ferguson cited a 2022 decision by Judge Lynne Battaglia that struck down a 2021 congressional map. Battaglia applied a portion of the state constitution that requires districts be compact, contiguous and mindful of jurisdictional and geographic boundaries — language that had always been applied only to legislative districts, not congressional districts.

It was considered a novel ruling. Ferguson saw it as an impediment to new maps and potentially one that could open up new litigation on the 2022 compromise map that resulted. That compromise changed a map that favored Democrats in all eight of Maryland’s congressional districts to the current 7-1 split, in which Rep. Andy Harris (R-1st) is the state’s only GOP representative.

During floor debate Tuesday afternoon, Democrats argued that the Battaglia decision was meaningless — a reversal of concerns from earlier this year.

Harris was in Ocean City, not Annapolis, as state lawmakers took steps that could ultimately defeat him, unobtrusively watching the weigh-ins at the White Marlin Tournament.

Targeting Harris will require a new map, something some hoped to see during the special session. The bill that passed does not contain a new map.

“It’s an important first step to allow us to really look at whether we can rebalance Congress later on,” said Sen. Clarence Lam (D-Howard and Anne Arundel), an early advocate of midcycle redistricting. “There’s still more work to be done on this issue. This issue is not going away, and it will continue to grow as a concern as we approach 2028.”

If approved by voters in November, the legislature could take up new congressional districts as early as January.

“I think there’s a lot of information between here and there, and I and I don’t think I would come in predisposed,” Ferguson told reporters after the vote. “What I know is that this was started by the White House and added on by a Republican Supreme Court that has radically undermined the norms of American democracy, and so Maryland has to be in a position of strength and certainty, when we act, should we act.”

Ferguson at times has questioned whether there would be enough votes in the Senate to pass new maps. Lam believes Tuesday’s vote is a positive sign.

“I think if you got the bill up there on the board, the votes would be there,” Lam said. “The question is: Is there enough support amongst the body and in leadership to get the bill up there? And if you get the bill on the board, the votes will be there to pass it. It’s an interesting kind of dynamic where it’s not the board itself that is the determinative step. It’s getting it up there. I think if you get it up there, the votes will be there.”

— Josh Kurtz and Maryland Matters reporter Christine Condon contributed to this report.

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It comes after against hyperscale data centers in Calvert County’s primary election on June 23.

The three county commissioners who previously voted against a pause on data centers were all ousted in their primaries by candidates who took issue with the trajectory of data center development in the county thus far. The commission president and vice president, Todd Ireland (R) and Mark C. Cox Sr. (R), both lost their races, as did commissioner Earl F. “Buddy” Hance (R).

The Amazon proposal was for “multiple data center campuses” at Calvert Cliffs, covering 2.4 million square feet, according to a planning document published on the Calvert County government website. The company submitted to Calvert in early May.

“Calvert County Government remains committed to transparency and will continue to provide updates on significant development proposals and application activity,” read Tuesday’s news release. “Keeping residents informed through accurate, timely and accessible communication remains a priority.”

On Aug. 18, the county will host a public meeting to consider a “temporary six-month moratorium on site plan approvals for data center development projects,” according to another issued Tuesday.

“The proposed ordinance would establish a temporary moratorium to allow time to review and adopt regulations and zoning ordinance text amendments related to data centers and heavy industrial use conditions, and to complete any necessary studies or analysis,” the news release reads.

Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday afternoon.

Calvert Cliffs owner Constellation argued in a statement that although AWS has withdrawn its plans, “the opportunity continues in Maryland and Calvert County to create jobs, grow the economy and support in-state federal agencies through investment in digital infrastructure.”

“All of this can be done responsibly while protecting and expanding the Calvert Cliffs Clean Energy Center, Maryland’s largest source of clean, reliable energy. Constellation looks forward to continuing to work with the county and state on this opportunity,” read the statement.

In addition to the proposal for a data center on the Calvert Cliffs site in Lusby, another company, called Natelli Holdings, has also close by. That facility, if built, would be located along Route 4 near Calvert Cliffs State Park, as well as an existing landfill, wastewater treatment facility and county-owned gun range.

The electoral result in Calvert was perhaps the of data centers’ growing impact on local politics, though voters in Frederick County also ousted their council chair, Brad Young, after the council voted to expand an existing data center zone in Adamstown, while restricting data centers in other parts of the county.

After the election, Frederick County Executive Jessica Fitzwater enacted, via executive order, a pause on data center development through the end of the year. In a statement, Fitzwater said that during the pause, county officials hope to educate voters about data centers and the zoning change during a series of public meetings. But county leaders still plan to move forward with the data center campus, currently planned at 2,500 acres.

In other counties in Maryland, the pauses, or moratoriums, are longer-term. Prince George’s County currently has the longest ban, a two-year hold that was enacted in July.

Melissa Emmal, a resident who started an online petition calling for a data center moratorium in Calvert County, said Amazon’s withdrawal is “a welcome development.” But the company could still resubmit a proposal, she noted. And the news “doesn’t change what we’re asking for,” she said.

“We’re continuing to gather signatures on the petition and asking the community to show up strong on August 18 in support of the moratorium. We need the time for the appropriate studies and zoning changes before any of these projects move forward,” read a statement from Emmal, whose Change.org petition has attracted over 10,000 signatures.

In a joint statement, board members for Save Lusby Inc. — a local nonprofit that opposes what it sees as excessive development in the area — also called on the county government to take further steps.

“We look forward to hearing what the current and future County Commissioners will enact with Moratoriums and Zoning Ordinances to ensure the preservation of our unique county is met with community involvement and thorough research,” read a statement from the board.

According to a news release issued last month by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN), nearly currently lives under some kind of data center moratorium.

Many of the state’s most populous counties have adopted measures, including Montgomery, Prince George’s, Baltimore County and Baltimore City. Harford County enacted a ban with no time limit.

Smaller and more rural jurisdictions have also adopted one-year pauses, including Queen Anne’s County on the Eastern Shore and Washington County in Western Maryland.

“Grassroots outrage from across the state has made it clear that a moratorium is the most reasonable course of action that can be taken right now,” said Brittany Baker, Maryland director at CCAN Action Fund. “The playing field has quickly shifted in the last few months, which is why I expect the Maryland General Assembly will likely take a serious look at statewide moratorium bills during the 2027 session.”

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: editor@marylandmatters.org.

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The state’s  reported 31 deaths in July, which started off with a major heatwave and several 100-degree days. Those deaths pushed this year’s total past the 36 recorded in all of last year, and were second only to the 46 heat-related deaths recorded in 2012.

Dr. Omoyemi Adebayo, an emergency medicine physician and chairman of emergency medicine at University of Maryland Baltimore-Washington Medical Center, said it is crucial to focus on ways to prevent heat stroke “well before you even step outside.”

“You have to make sure that you are hydrating your body appropriately if you’re planning to be outside for extended periods of time,” Adebayo said. “Make sure you have the appropriate clothing and have a plan for keeping yourself hydrated and being able to take breaks as much as needed.”

The health department updates its weather-related illness dashboard every Wednesday, with this week’s data including totals through July 25. Because the dashboard reports death counts only when they are confirmed by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, some cases may still be pending.

The dashboard also showed that this summer, there have been 1,627 total visits to emergency rooms or urgent care facilities for heat-related illness and another 1,242 calls to emergency medical services for heat issues.

Adebayo said older adults and children are often more susceptible to heat-related illness compared to healthy middle-aged adults. Of heat-related deaths reported this season, 61% occurred in people 65 and older, while 32% were people between 45 and 64 and 8% were among people 18 to 44.

According to Adebayo, both older and younger populations are more sensitive to high temperatures. However, as many elderly people live alone, they may not have someone to check in on them and be able to help them if they are having a health crisis.

Shawn Dennison, the program manager at the Office of Public Health Preparedness from the Frederick County Health Department, said the county’s two heat-related deaths earlier this month prompted the department to look into ways to better support older adults in the community.

The department works with other county agencies to connect isolated older adults with support services to prevent similar occurrences, he said.

Adebayo said symptoms of heat-related illness can fall into two categories: heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Symptoms of heat exhaustion can include heavy sweating, nausea, dizziness, headache and muscle cramps, according to Adebayo. When people begin experiencing more “red flag” symptoms, like fainting, shortness of breath or confusion, it is time to consider seeking medical care, he said.

“It’s important for people to know that heat exhaustion is really your body’s kind of early warning sign before you progress to heat stroke, which is really when things can get dangerous very quickly,” Adebayo said.

He said it is crucial to call emergency services if a person is showing signs of changes to their mental status, such as confusion, aren’t acting like themselves or are having trouble speaking.

If someone arrives in the emergency room with symptoms of heatstroke, medical staff’s priority is getting a patient’s body temperature down, Adebayo said. This can be done in several different ways, including using ice packs, fans, misting fans, cooling blankets and, in extreme situations, submerging patients in ice.

Delaying treatment for heat stroke can lead to seizures, cause permanent brain damage, and in extreme cases, can cause death, according to Adebayo.

“Many people look forward to the summertime as a time to gather with family and friends, get some extra vitamin D from the sun and I don’t want to scare people away from enjoying the outdoors,” he said. “Maryland has a lot to offer, and people should be able to do that, as long as they do it smartly.”

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Those are among the rules released Wednesday by legislative leaders ahead of the Aug. 3-5 special session, where lawmakers will consider adding a question to the November ballot asking voters whether they would like to change Maryland’s procedure for congressional redistricting.

The short session will feature a joint hearing by House and Senate election committees at noon Monday in Annapolis. Anyone can submit written testimony but only 50 witnesses will be allowed to speak — virtually or in person — and they will be limited to two minutes each.

Marylanders looking to testify Monday must sign up on the General Assembly website between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Friday, by first making a “MyMGA” account on the site, according to an  Wednesday. If more than 50 people sign up to speak, the committee chairs will decide who gets the microphone.

Legislative leaders posted identical �����Ի��� of the redistricting bill Wednesday that included language for a potential ballot question.

If approved, the question would essentially overturn a 2022 decision from a Maryland judge that required congressional districts to be “compact, contiguous and mindful of jurisdictional and geographic boundaries.” The measure, if passed, would clarify that this requirement only applies to General Assembly districts, and it would send Maryland’s districts directly to the state Supreme Court for legal review.

No redistricting changes could take effect before the 2028 election.

In a statement Wednesday, Republican leaders in the General Assembly took issue with the 50-person limit, and argued that details about the redistricting proposal had been scant before Wednesday’s release.

“We are very concerned with the significant limitations on witnesses, and the reality that any bill hearing is obviously intended to be a brief and meaningless formality,” said House Minority Leader Jason Buckel (R-Allegany). “The people of Maryland deserve better.”

Heather Mizeur, a spokesperson for House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel), said the 50-person limit is typical procedure for General Assembly committees, though the limit is rarely reached. After the limit, committee staff members often use a random number generator to select those who will testify, Mizeur said.

Peña-Melnyk and Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) have  on subjects besides redistricting. They directed legislative staffers not to draft bills that do not focus on the subject, to the chagrin of Republican members, who were aiming to introduce several bills focused on affordability issues.

In their statement, Republicans also expressed concern that  appeared on the General Assembly website, scheduled for Monday’s hearing. The bill, Democratic leaders say, would merely eliminate an issue that would cause a separate question — about collective bargaining for state employees — to appear twice on the November ballot.

“The Democratic majority is making the rules up as they go along,” said Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey (R-Upper Shore). “It is important to note that their exceptions to these rules will still do nothing to ease the struggle for the people they represent.

A map  this past legislative session, which stalled in the Senate, would have connected the red Eastern Shore to blue Annapolis, bridging the Chesapeake Bay. If a map similar to that one is ultimately enacted, it’s possible that enough Democratic voters would be added to flip the firmly GOP district, currently represented by Rep. Andy Harris (R-1st) — Maryland’s only Republican representative in Congress.

Maryland Republicans have attacked the redistricting push as an effort to eliminate the only representation in Congress for Maryland Republicans. But Maryland Democrats, who control both chambers in the General Assembly, say they are only responding to congressional redistricting in red states, pushed by President Donald Trump (R) to redraw their districts before the next Census in order to benefit the GOP during this year’s midterm elections.

Though Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) campaigned hard for redistricting, and a map sailed through the House of Delegates, the idea did not reach the Senate floor. Ferguson was a staunch opponent, arguing that the redistricting plan was legally perilous.

He cited a 2022 decision by Judge Lynne Battaglia that overturned the legislature’s 2021 map, on the grounds that it did not comply with the “compact and contiguous” requirement. Prior to her ruling, the requirement was believed only to apply to General Assembly districts, not congressional districts.

But Ferguson  in late April, shortly after the legislature adjourned, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais, in which it said that congressional districts drawn to consider race were unconstitutional. Ferguson felt that decision “gutted the Voting Rights Act.”

“Maryland must respond as the ground shifts under us,” Ferguson said in a statement at the time, signaling his intent to evaluate a special session on the topic for the first time.

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The purchase keeps those properties out of the hands of Churchill Downs Inc., the owners of the Kentucky Derby, who announced plans this spring to buy rights to those races from 1/ST Maryland LLC for that amount. But  1/ST’s previous deal with Maryland gave the state the right to match any offer for the sale of rights to those races, which the state said in June it would do.

State officials were quick to note Thursday that no tax dollars will be used for the purchase. Funds for the deal will come from notes issued by the Maryland Economic Development Corp. (MEDCO). which will be repaid with funds generated by the two races.

In a statement released by the goveror’s office, MEDCO CEO Tom Sadowski says the organization is “proud to have had the opportunity to conceive and execute a financial transaction that secures ownership of the Preakness and Black-eyed Susan IP and cements the success of horse racing in Maryland for generations to come.”

By buying the Preakness, the state not only guarantees that the race remains in Maryland, but it ends regular licensing fee payments to 1/ST Racing, that would have risen over time.

Gov. Wes Moore (D) said in the statement that horse racing is “a cornerstone of Maryland’s history, culture and economy,” which is why it’s important to own the rights to the Preakness.

“With this final acquisition we are not only leveraging the Preakness’s iconic status and uplifting our horse racing industry, we are revitalizing the communities that directly benefit from the economic opportunities of the race,” Moore’s statement said.

The Preakness is the second leg of racing’s storied Triple Crown, which begins in May with the Kentucky Derby and ends five weeks later with the Belmont Stakes.

The state’s purchase of intellectual property rights to the two races is the latest in a string of investments in the horse racing industry. The Maryland Stadium Authority owns Pimlico, the historic track where the Preakness has been run for more than a century, and it is spending about $400 million for a complete teardown and rebuild of the facility, which is going on now.

The state is also in the process of buying the only other thoroughbred track in the state, Laurel Park, which hosted this year’s Preakness while Pimlico is under construction. Plans call for Laurel Park to be converted to a state-owned training facility.

The state also owns Shamrock Farms in Carroll County, which it had planned to turn into the state training facility, but it abandoned those plans recently when it encountered financial and logistical problems with the site. It is currently deciding what to do with that property.

As the owner of the Preakness and Black-Eyed Susan, the state will be responsible for running those races every year. All other racing days will be run by the Maryland Jockey Club, a nonprofit established under state law.

The state said in its announcement that the Maryland Jockey Club has secured partnerships with Oak View Group for sponsorship growth and KO Productions for event production. It also said that while it owns the intellectual property rights to the races, the state “remains open to identifying areas of mutual interest with Churchill Downs and other industry partners to benefit the broader Triple Crown and the sport of horseracing.”

“With all assets now residing with the State, we will work closely with the Maryland, Baltimore and Park Heights business communities to showcase the Preakness on the national stage,” said Bill Knauf, president and general Manager of the Maryland Jockey Club, in the statement.

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The salary deadline is part of the state’s multiyear, multibillion-dollar education reform plan known as the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. It’s also a mandate for which there is little wiggle room for local districts: At a legislative hearing in March, an official with the Accountability and Implementation Board, which oversees the Blueprint, said the July 1 date was firm and there was no waiver.

But some local school officials said it wasn’t easy to meet that July 1 deadline.

Denise Sopa, chief financial officer for Cecil County Public Schools, said in an email Tuesday that a first-year, 10-month teacher will receive a starting salary of $60,086 for the 2026-27 school year. But “in order to meet the state requirement and balance the budget in general, we needed to reduce 104 positions,” she said, including 60 teachers, 30 support staff and 14 administrators.

Jodi Colman, assistant superintendent for academics and student services in Dorchester County, said some restructuring had to be done to hit the salary mark and balance the system’s 2026-27 budget. One of the results: an increase in classes sizes – possibly from 18 to 22 – because the school system wasn’t able to fund as many teacher positions.

Colman said Dorchester schools, which have about 4,500 students, also had to resort to a reduction in force “in order to make sure we were funding the classroom positions because we wanted to have the least impact on the schools as possible.”

Colman acknowledged the work on this year’s budget “was difficult. We don’t have a lot of extras around here.”

But legislators who support the Blueprint, such as Del. Jessica Feldmark (D-Howard), said Friday the salary increase is an investment that helps not only the education profession, but also the students.

“Within the context of whatever budget challenges we’re facing, we have to remember that this is about investing in our children and in our future, investing in the future of our workforce, our economy, our democracy, and that investment is something we have to take seriously,” said Feldmark, vice chair of the House Ways and Means Committee.

“If we want to have great schools, we need to be able to recruit and retain great educators, and recognizing their value and paying them a fair salary is a critical piece of that,” she said.

When AIB Executive Director Rachel Hise told a  in March that there would be no waivers on the minimum salary requirement, just half of the state’s 24 school districts met the threshold: Allegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Calvert, Carroll, Charles, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George’s, St. Mary’s and Washington counties. Starting salaries for those systems ranged from $60,000 even in Allegany and Carroll counties to $64,591 in Montgomery.

Since then, officials with Cecil, Dorchester, Frederick, Garrett, Harford, Queen Anne’s and Talbot counties said they have met the minimum salary requirement. The remaining counties either did not respond or said they are still working on it.

One of the penalties for failing to hit the deadline is that the AIB can withhold a certain amount of funding from a district until the $60,000 salary gets approved.

At least one school district continues to work on it: Somerset County, which had the state’s highest percentage of people living in poverty, at 20.3% in 2025, according to the .

Somerset schools remain in negotiations with their bargaining units, Superintendent W. David Bromwell said in an email Thursday. Bromwell said the district is aware of the $60,000 minimum salary requirement.

“Any budgetary item/mandate, can be difficult to complete for any MD Public School system, especially the smaller districts,” he wrote in his email.

Somerset officials have time on their side because they’ll have until Sept. 1 to send an attestation to the AIB to confirm the $60,000 minimum teacher salary has been met. That must also be done by all other school districts.

While some school systems struggled, or continue to struggle, officials in Frederick County said it was simply a matter of doing what had to be done.

“It was a requirement under the law. We did it. I hope everybody else did the same,” said Sarah Sirgo, chief of staff for Frederick County Public Schools.

Other school districts may have focused on the challenge to work on their budgets this year due to the salary mandate, but  Sirgo said she and her colleagues in Frederick don’t view it that way.

“We’re not like, ‘Oh well, if we’re going to pay teachers more, we can’t do X, Y, or Z,’” said Sirgo, who also serves as the district’s Blueprint coordinator. “When we build our budget, we have our strategic plan. We make sure that our budget is advancing the goals that we’re after.”

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The authority Tuesday issued a request for qualifications, or RFQ, from prospective contractors on the major part of the replacement project: construction of the main span bridge and of marine approaches of the bridge, which will straddle the shipping channel into the Port of Baltimore.

“Maryland is working expeditiously to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge and this step is the first major milestone in assembling our construction team,” said Maryland Transportation Secretary Katie Thomson, who acts as chair of the MdTA board, in a statement from the authority.

According to an MdTA news release, the request for qualifications starts a “two-step, competitive, sealed proposal process to select a design-build team for the contract.” After reviewing the RFQs, authority staff will compile a shortlist of contractors, who will be invited to submit bids in response to a request for proposals, or RFP.

Under the schedule set by the authority, the field of candidates will be winnowed to a shortlist this fall, and the winner will be selected from those bidders, and a notice to proceed, will be issued by summer 2027.

It’s a continuation of the ambitious schedule to replace the bridge, which collapsed into the Patapsco River when it was hit in the early morning hours of March 26, 2024.

The shipping channel was cleared of debris from the collapse — and the Port of Baltimore reopened to ship traffic — within weeks and demolition of the old bridge remnants began not long thereafter. During a tour of the site this week, Gov. Wes Moore (D) recommitted to finishing the project and having the bridge reopened to traffic by 2030.

In the rush to start work on the bridge, initial estimates came in around $1.7 billion. But as they studied the project, officials came to realize that was a gross underestimate. The state now believes replacement of the Key Bridge will cost between $4.3 billion and $5.2 billion, and some have suggested it could be higher than that.

Faced with the higher costs, the state dropped Kiewit Infrastructure, the company that has done the first phase of the project, completing demolition of the old bridge and driving piles for the new one. The state also decided to split the remaining tasks into separate contracts, in hopes of keeping costs contained.

Even though they have parted ways, Kiewit will continue working on site through the end of the year, as it wraps up work on the first phase of the project.

“This is a significant milestone to get the largest procurement for this project out for qualifications in just over 60 days since announcing the project will be split into four contracts,” MdTA Executive Director Bruce Gartner. “Progress continues on the rebuild with permanent piles being driven into the riverbed daily laying the foundation of the future bridge while concurrently advancing through the procurement process on these construction contracts.”

The project currently going out for RFQs will be the first, and the largest, of four remaining contracts on the bridge. MdTA also expects to issue contracts for demolition of the remaining structures over water and miscellaneous marine work; construction of the land approach to the bridge from the south; and construction of the northern land approach.

The contract that is currently being put out for RFQs will complete the new bridge’s signature span, marine approaches and systems to protect the new structure from collisions like the one that destroyed the old bridge, killing six workers in the process. The MdTA announcement said the main span bridge and marine approaches contract includes:

• construction of a cable-stayed bridge with a 1,665-foot main span and a total length of 3,365 feet, with a minimum 230-foot clearance over the federal navigation channel;
• two concrete pylons reaching an elevation of 602 feet;
• a vessel collision protection system at the main pylon piers;
• approximately 660 feet of south-approach bridge over water; and
• approximately 1,560 feet of north-approach bridge over water.

Kiewit will continue working on-site while the next contract procurement is underway. Permanent foundation piles are being installed, the MdTA said, along with the over-water work platform known as a trestle.

The authority owns and operates all of Maryland’s toll tunnels, bridges and turnpikes. For more information about the Key Bridge project, visit .

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House and Senate leaders had already agreed on an Aug. 3-5 special session to pass legislation that will set legal standards for how the state’s eight congressional districts are drawn. Moore’s July 17 executive order represents a necessary legal formality.

A spokesperson for Moore said the governor’s office did not publicize the order as it was viewed as “perfunctory.”

The General Assembly can petition itself back into special session, but that requires a majority of both the House and Senate to sign a petition. More common is when the governor calls a special session by executive order.

Lawmakers are scheduled to return to Annapolis and take up an amendment to the Maryland Constitution that gets around a 2022 decision by Judge Lynne Battaglia. That ruling struck down a 2021 congressional map, citing language in the state constitution that requires districts be compact, contiguous and mindful of jurisdictional and geographic boundaries. Before her ruling, the compact and contiguous language had always been interpreted to only apply to General Assembly districts, not congressional districts.

The decision, while not a precedent, was a novel interpretation of the state constitution. It also represented a hurdle to midcycle redistricting to Senate President Bill Ferguson (D).

Moore, in his executive order, wrote that the session would be to amend the constitution to “reaffirm that the provisions which govern the requirements of our state legislative districts do not apply to Maryland’s congressional districts.”

Exact language of the bill lawmakers will take up in the August session is not yet public, but any changes approved in the special session would not have an effect before the 2028 elections. It is not expected that a new map, like the one passed by the House earlier this year, will be part of the special session effort.

Ferguson and House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel) sent a letter to delegates and senators in which they prohibited any bill not related to redistricting from being drafted or introduced.

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Gov. Wes Moore (D), current and former members of the state’s congressional delegation and state transportation officials took Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.) on a boat tour of the site, where work continues even though the state parted ways this spring with the current contractor over projected costs.

Capito, the chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and Womack, the chair of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, were generally supportive of the project, despite what Capito called “eye-popping” costs on the multibillion-dollar project.

“We have to have a transparent process,” Capito after the boat tour. “I want to see why these costs have ballooned and what are the performance measures that are built in … because now, the whole country is paying for this.”

The bridge collapsed into the Patapsco River when it was struck in the early morning hours of March 26, 2024, by a fully loaded container ship leaving the Port of Baltimore, killing six workers who were on the bridge at the time and severing a major East Coast highway route.

In the weeks immediately following the collapse, state officials estimated that replacing the bridge would cost about $1.7 billion. Then-President Joe Biden pledged that the federal government would pay the full cost of replacement, a promise that was made law in late 2024 in legislation passed by Congress.

Since then, however, the state’s official cost estimate has grown to be between $4.3 billion and $5.2 billion — and some unofficial estimates have suggested it might be much higher.

The state this spring with Kiewit Infrastructure over price disagreements on the job going forward. Kiewit was involved in expedited planning on a replacement bridge, removal of the old bridge structures and placement of piles for a new bridge, and it will continue that work through the end of this year. But state officials are seeking new contractors for subsequent phases of the project.

State officials have blamed a number of pressures for the higher costs, but say the chief culprit are the modern safety measures that were not a part of the original bridge’s 1970s-era design, but have to be built in today to prevent another tragedy like the 2024 collapse from happening.

“If you look at the fact that this next bridge that we’re building, it is going to have additional safety precautions and mechanisms that were not there when  features” that were not there when the bridge was originally built, Moore said Monday.

“It will have to be larger, because it has to accommodate larger ships,” Moore said. “So I know when people say. ‘That’s ambitious, to say you’re going to build a bridge that’s safer and bigger, and build it faster than was done before,’ the answer is, it is ambitious.”

Moore pointed to the work done so far and speed at which crews cleared the shipping channel in and out of the port — in weeks instead of months — and said he is confident the project can still be finished by 2030.

Moore said Capito and Womack have been “with us every step of the way.”

“They were here walking with us after the initial tragedy,” he said. “This is not an introduction to either of these two.”

Both Capito and Womack remained supportive of the project, with Capito noting the 89,000 people who crossed the bridge daily and Womack noting that some of the steel used in the project came from an Arkansas foundry.

“This is not a shirts-and-skins issue. This is not a blue/red issue,” Womack said. “This is a national issue and the sooner we can get this thing built, and they’re track record is pretty good right now, when you consider the speed at which a lot of these things are happening,  this is going to be open in record time and everybody’s going to benefit, particularly the nation.”

Capito said that permitting reform that is working through Congress will be key to dealing with projects like the Key Bridge as the nation continues to grapple with aging infrastructure. For member of Congress it has been a case of “lessons learned” with the bridge, she said.

One of the lessons already learned, Capito said, is “Maybe don’t put an estimate out until you’re really sure what the estimate might be.”

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: editor@marylandmatters.org.

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In a joint letter to delegates and senators Monday, Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) and House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel) made it clear that when they gather next month for a special session on a constitutional amendment on drawing the state’s congressional districts boundaries, no other subjects will be taken up.

Ferguson and Peña-Melnyk said they have “directed the Department of Legislative Services to accept bill drafting requests for the … special session only if they relate to the purpose for which the General Assembly is being reconvened: consideration of legislation concerning redistricting standards.”

The mandate — a departure from past special sessions — effectively blocks House and Senate Republicans, who were planning to request bills be drafted focusing on affordability issues.

“They don’t want us bringing up these issues that are important to average, everyday Marylanders,” said Senate Minority Leader Stephen S. Hershey Jr. (R-Upper Shore). “It feels very targeted toward Republicans and another way they are trying to take our voices away.”

Lawmakers are scheduled to return to Annapolis Aug. 3-5 to take up a bill to amend Maryland Constitution to get around a 2022 decision by Judge Lynne Battaglia. That ruling struck down a 2021 congressional map, citing language in the state constitution that requires districts be compact, contiguous and mindful of jurisdictional and geographic boundaries. Before her ruling, the compact and contiguous language had always been interpreted to only apply to General Assembly districts.

The Battaglia decision was cited as the reason the Senate did not take up midcycle redistricting this year. But if her opinion is removed, lawmakers could more easily redraw that state’s eight congressional districts in a way that makes it easier for a Democrat to be elected in the one Maryland district held by a Republican, Rep. Andy Harris (R-1st).

The House attempted to graft redistricting language onto another bill to amend the state constitution sponsored by Sen. Cheryl Kagan (D-Montgomery) during the 2026 session. Kagan’s original bill would have set new requirements for special elections to fill vacant House and Senate seats during the first two years of the term.

Ferguson, who had blocked a congressional redistricting bill that included a new map, bottled up the amended Kagan bill when it was returned by the House.

Legislative leaders over the summer talked about the possibility of bringing Kagan’s special election bill back in special session, passing it along with the congressional district standards bill. The two congressional amendments could then be presented to voters in November. Delaying Kagan’s bill again until 2027 means voters would not see the amendment before 2028 and, if approved, it would not take effect until 2030. The first special election could not be held before 2032.

“There’s a lot of interest in having us finally pass that during special session, but as you saw, the focus is going to be fairly narrow,” Kagan said in a phone interview from Iowa, where she is attending a national Scrabble tournament — the senator is a nationally ranked player.

“I don’t think it’s dead,” she said. “I think conversations are ongoing.”

Kagan said she understands why the presiding officers might have decided why it was necessary to impose such limits.

“I think the fact that we’re on a deadline and that it’s in the middle of summer vacations might make people a little impatient or even a little bit cranky, and so there’s not a great deal of interest in spending more time in Annapolis debating than is necessary,” she said.

“Every new agenda item could extend our time in session. I think most people are willing to show up and are to willing to debate, willing to vote, but I don’t think they want to do too much more time than is seen as absolutely necessary,” Kagan said.

Another potential concern is how the limited issue mandate affects attempts to clean up a potential problem created by the passage of identical House and Senate bills reforming arbitration for state employees. The proposals, which amend the state constitution, would both appear on the ballot unless lawmakers to find a way to condenses the two questions into one.

“Those bills don’t have anything to do with congressional redistricting,” Hershey said. “I would stand up and oppose it.”

Legislators will also have to consider overriding five vetoes by Gov. Wes Moore (D). Typically, vetoes issued by a governor in the fourth year of a term stand because lawmakers cannot take them up in the next term. But with the legislature returning once more before a new General Assembly is seated, they’ll have the opportunity to override Moore.

In previous special sessions, presiding officers would announce their intent to limit the focus of work done. Lawmakers could request introduce legislation, but those bills typically would be sent to a Rules Committee.

In Monday’s letter, the presiding officers explained their decision “establishes one consistent standard” and keeps the legislature focused on one issue during the short session.

“The Maryland Constitution authorizes each chamber to determine its own proceedings, and State law places DLS [the Department of Legislative Services] under the direction of the presiding officers,” Ferguson’s and Peña-Melnyk’s letter said.

Republicans were expected to file a number of bills focusing on utility costs, a gas tax holiday, lowering the costs of vehicle registration fees and other affordability issues.

“Those are the issues we feel are important to Marylanders, not congressional redistricting,” Hershey said.

Also likely was a Republican sponsored bill seeking to restore $125 million in cuts made to self-directed care for persons with developmental disabilities.

“We recognize that affordability, energy costs, and other issues facing Marylanders remain important, and the Maryland General Assembly took meaningful steps to address many of those concerns during the 2026 session,” the presiding officers wrote, adding lawmakers can “develop and submit legislation on those matters for the 2027 regular session.”

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In Frederick County, which is planning for a data center hub, the council chair lost his seat in the primary, and politically inexperienced candidates urging “data center sanity” largely won out.

In Calvert County, where officials are weighing data centers near the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant, a similar story played out, and three county commissioners were shown the door.

Environmental advocates believe Maryland’s electoral landscape is only just beginning to see the ramifications of a tsunami of AI data center opposition, as an increasing number of proposals crop up in the state, raising local concerns about electricity use, water use, diesel generator pollution, noise and environmental degradation.

“It’s the political story of this region, going forward,” said Mike Tidwell, founder and director of the nonprofit Chesapeake Climate Action Network.

Tidwell, a local environmental activist for decades, says the bipartisan, near-universal outrage about data centers is “a phenomenon unlike anything I’ve seen.” Fomenting this much rage for environmental issues has typically taken years and years, he said.

“It’s coming from everywhere. It’s red and blue, and it’s not subtle,” Tidwell said. “It’s hard to get everyone in one small town to agree on facts. And yet — organically, unplanned — everywhere across the country, people have made up their minds that they hate data centers — and now we see that they’re voting on that.”

“The public opinion tide has shifted — and it’s probably the fastest change of public opinion I’ve ever seen in all my years of advocacy,” Jennifer Bevan-Dangel, deputy director at Economic Action Maryland Fund.

In Montgomery County, the winning candidate in the crowded Democratic primary for county executive, Will Jawando, had what advocates considered the most aggressive stance against data centers. He proposed a bill calling for a two-year moratorium. On June 12, outgoing county executive Marc Elrich enacted a six-month pause.

“Will Jawando has had a clearer view of where the public is on this,” said Tidwell, a Montgomery County resident. “I think that helped get him elected.”

While numerous Maryland counties enacted temporary data center pauses in the run-up to election season, including Prince George County, Baltimore County, Baltimore City and Howard County, other counties have resisted them.

That includes Calvert, home to the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Plant, where a possible data center development. A from Natelli Holdings would also place a data center development in an industrial zone near the plant and Calvert Cliffs State Park.

The Calvert County Board of Commissioners, has rejected a data center pause on a few occasions, including by a .

Melissa Emmal, a Calvert resident who has grown a social media presence by posting videos about the possible data centers in the county, started a calling for a two-year pause, which has since garnered nearly 10,000 signatures.

Across the county, residents are frustrated that county officials didn’t discuss the proposals openly before the companies came forward publicly. But the frustration may be strongest in Lusby, the community that hosts not only the Calvert Cliffs facility but the Cove Point liquefied natural gas terminal.

“They already feel like they’ve done their fair share of hosting infrastructure,” Emmal said.

Of late, Emmal said she’s noticed more county residents turning up at Calvert County Board of Commissioners meetings to voice concerns about data center development. But she wasn’t sure whether it would translate into electoral success.

“It was a big surprise,” Emmal said. “We were hoping to just get one — then the votes would be possible to flip the other way.”

The Republican nominations for the two at-large seats on the board, held by Ireland and Hance, were scooped up by newcomers Patti Stueckler, who ran on an explicitly anti-data centers platform, and Jason Scaggs, who has taken issue with a lack of transparency from county officials on data centers, but has said he is open to a data center at Calvert Cliffs.

The pair will face off against a pair of Democratic nominees in the general election, but as it stands, the council is entirely Republican.

Cox was unseated by Kenneth B. Lee, who will run unopposed in the general election, and ran with the slogan “Stop the Data Centers.”

In Frederick, the county council voted in December to expand an existing in the Adamstown area by about 1,000 acres, essentially creating a 2,500-acre data center alley, while at the same time preventing data centers in other industrial zones elsewhere in the county.

The council’s decision spurred a petition drive to bring the issue to a ballot referendum, which garnered more than 20,000 signatures, approved by the county’s board of elections. But data center companies challenged the legality of the referendum in court, and won a favorable on June 30 that will keep the issue off the November ballot.

Observers believe that the council’s decision led to the ouster of Council President Brad Young, who finished third of four Democratic primary candidates vying for two seats.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that the data center debate played a significant role in the primary process, and I am anticipating it will again in the general,” said Rick Weldon, who previously served as a Frederick County commissioner and represented the county in the General Assembly. He is currently president of the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce.

The council’s other at-large representative, Renee Knapp, who supported the zoning expansion, took the second spot. But it was newcomer Tiffany Grant — who opposed the zoning change, arguing it would gobble up agricultural lands — who won the most votes of any candidate in the race.

Young was seen as the “face” of the council’s decision to expand the data center hub, which was supported by County Executive Jessica Fitzwater, said Kai Hagen, a council member from 2018 to 2022 who opposes the Adamstown development. That’s why, Hagen believes, Young got the boot.

But it wasn’t just Young’s at-large race. In other districts, those nicknamed “data center sanity” candidates won out, including In District 1, which includes Adamstown.

In the Democratic race, Louisa Conklin prevailed, after running a campaign “to regulate and tax data centers, slow or stop approval of new projects and reverse the County Council’s disastrous vote” to expand data center zoning in an area zoned for agriculture.

“This was the issue that got me off the bench — that got me running,” Conklin said. “I had no intentions of seeking office.”

Conklin, who moved to Frederick County in 2022, served as an associate member of the Frederick County Democratic Central Committee. She defeated Jenn Alcorn, who has lived in the county since childhood and became an advocate for local first responders after the 2021 death of her husband, a county police officer. Alcorn also had Fitzwater’s support.

In a , Alcorn said she supported the zoning change “not because I took it lightly,” but because it would lower the total number of acres in the county available to data centers, set new specifications for data center development and add to the county’s commercial tax base to help provide residents with tax relief.

Data centers were “clearly a driving issue in this race,” Alcorn said in her statement.

“For six months leading up to the primary, my opponents, Louisa Conklin and Frank Hollewa, ran a sustained effort to label me ‘pro-data center’ — a mischaracterization of a position that always included guardrails and accountability measures,” Alcorn said.

Outside money flowed into the Frederick County primaries in support of Alcorn, Young, and Knapp. Momentum Maryland, a super PAC that spent more than $43,000 on direct mailers supporting the trio, according to the most recent data available on the Maryland State Board of Elections website.

The PAC received all of its funding, $190,000, from a similarly named corporation, which lists a Washington post office box, and is not registered to do business in Maryland. Its states that its mission is to “foster informed conversation about economic development,” among other issues.

“Momentum Maryland supports policy solutions that strengthen our communities, build our economy, and create growth that benefits all Marylanders.” the website reads.

Neither Conklin nor Grant received any similar outside donations, according to the state’s campaign finance database.

Political action committees such as Momentum Maryland can spend almost unlimited amounts of money supporting or opposing a candidate — but cannot coordinate with candidates themselves.

“My campaign had no contact with that PAC, no knowledge of its plans, and no input into its materials,” Alcorn said in her statement.

All of the Frederick County primary victors must still face a general election opponent. But in many races, the candidates on both sides of the aisle are data center skeptics opposed to the proposed expanded zoning in Adamstown. Hence, the council majority is “virtually guaranteed” to flip against data centers, Hagen said.

“That’s going to change everything,” Hagen said. “It’s been a rubber-stamp council.”

On July 1, about one week after the primary election and one day after the Maryland Supreme Court ruling, Fitzwater signed new data center development through Dec. 31.

“A week removed from the primary, the county executive is suggesting that we slow down,” Weldon said. “That’s called reading the tea leaves and reacting.”

But Fitzwater, who was unopposed in her primary, chalks the decision up to the Supreme Court decision.

“The Maryland Supreme Court’s ruling marked the end of a years-long process of Frederick County setting clear limits on data center development, but we recognize many of our residents still have concerns,” said Hope Morris, a spokesperson for Fitzwater, in a statement.

Fitzwater’s camp is hopeful that the pause will provide them with time for “additional outreach to share” how the new zoning rules “prioritize our residents’ health and safety and restrict development.”

It remains unclear how the shifting balance on county legislative bodies in Frederick and Calvert will affect local decision-making, and whether the primary results could make an impression on leaders in Annapolis. They established a separate electricity tariff for large-scale data centers, intended to make them foot the bill for their infrastructure build-out — and created an incentive system for data centers to use clean energy — but have not set major restrictions on the facilities statewide.

But Tidwell believes the shift will be apparent in January, when the General Assembly convenes for its regular session.

“I believe that when January rolls around, there is going to be more than one moratorium and ban bill in Annapolis,” Tidwell said. “Something that might have seemed unthinkable – it’s going to be inevitable in January.”

Del. C.T. Wilson (D-Charles), who will move to the state Senate next year, said data centers were “pretty much the top issue” he heard about while campaigning. In Charles, a data center company has proposed reopening a shuttered coal plant, switching it to run on natural gas, to power a data center. Wilson, for one, said he’d be open to a statewide data center pause — and he thinks the public sentiment is shifting that way, too.

“We don’t know what the impact is — but we should pause until we figure out what it is,” Wilson said. “When billionaires think it’s important, I’ve got a feeling it’s not good for us. This is not Republican versus Democrat. This is billionaires versus the rest of us.”

Maryland Matters reporter Bryan P. Sears contributed to this report.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: editor@marylandmatters.org.

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The Tuesday letter to state Elections Administrator Jared DeMarinis is part of a larger effort involving election officials across the country. It comes a day after Justice Department attorneys signaled their intent to appeal a Maryland case in which they unsuccessfully sought to force the release of comprehensive voter records.

DeMarinis described it as “a nice love letter from the Department of Justice threatening my arrest.”

“It is just unconscionable to threaten and try to intimidate election officials, not just in Maryland, but throughout the United States,” he said. “I mean, this is such a draconian step.”

 from Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division, focuses on “Maryland’s compliance with federal law governing voter eligibility.”

In her letter, Dhillon raises concerns about noncitizens being allowed to vote in Maryland elections.

The seven-page letter, which includes a memo, threatens charges related to criminal conspiracy and civil rights violations. It is similar if not identical to one sent to election officials in every state.

“This letter here is for one purpose, and one purpose only, and that is to intimidate and scare election officials,” DeMarinis said. “The Department of Justice is trying to run roughshod over Marylanders’ rights. They lost in court to get the voter rolls. The administration has issued unconstitutional executive orders. Now here on July 7 there is this new letter with a memo — I would say threat — there’s no other way to take this.”

DeMarinis acknowledged that speaking publicly about the letter was unusual, but that he felt he had to “come out and address this publicly … because this cannot stand behind the scenes.”

“As a state election administrator one of my charges is to make sure that people always feel safe, secure about out elections and know that our elections are verified as well,” he said.

Dhillon wrote that “any election officer, including the chief election officer of the state, who knowingly retains noncitizens on the state’s SVRL [state voter registration list] or facilitates noncitizens in receiving and casting ballots could be subject to criminal liability. An intentional act that is aimed at diluting the votes of citizens could also constitute a violation of (federal law) which makes it unlawful for two or more persons to conspire to injure any person in the exercise of that person’s constitutional rights. We encourage you to contact us to discuss what steps your state should take to maintain clean voter lists as required by law.”

The letter, addressed to DeMarinis, does not specify others it considers part of an alleged conspiracy.

“The Department sent these letters to all 50 states and the District of Columbia, asking for voluntary compliance in a timely manner with their obligations under federal law to ensure only citizens vote in federal elections,” a department spokesperson said in a one-sentence statement sent in response to questions Wednesday.

“We run safe and secure elections in the state of Maryland in compliance with the law,” DeMarinis said. “Now this type of a letter is trying to cast doubt over the election results with baseless claims and mythical evildoers. We’ve proven it time and time again. I’m just, I’m floored.”

Concerns about eroding voter confidence

Nikki Tyree, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Maryland, called the letter “extremely disturbing” and linked it directly to so-far unsuccessful efforts by the same agency to obtain the state’s voter database.

“The idea that you fail in court, and your next course of action is to threaten detention or arrest … it speaks volumes to how election officials are viewed in this country,” Tyree said. “You cannot threaten your way into winning elections, not here, not in Maryland, not in America. You cannot threaten our public servants into giving you what you want.

“The reality is that if anybody ever bothered to actually learn, they would see our election officials here follow the law that has been laid out for them by Maryland’s General Assembly,” she said.

Both DeMarinis and Tyree said the effort is meant to diminish trust in state and local elections. Tyree blamed “groups of people who fundamentally are willfully ignorant about how the law works.”

“Their goal isn’t to make sure our voter rolls are as clean as possible,” she said. “Their goal is to have enough people believe that there is something wrong with our elections, where they can cry foul, and they can get what they want as the winner. That’s it.”

Recent polling shows that Americans across the political spectrum are losing confidence in the election process. Two-thirds of Americans surveyed in a  conducted by PBS News, NPR and Marist University expressed confidence in the accuracy of their state and local elections, 10 points lower than a similar poll conducted before the 2024 election.

The decline is driven by double-digit decreases among Democratic and independent voters.

Election officials, advocates on alert

Action against state election officials has increased since Trump took office nearly two years ago.

In that time, the president has issued multiple executive orders on elections. A 2025 order mandated proof of citizenship for federal voter registration. Another issued earlier this year directed the Department of Homeland Security to compile citizenship lists and use the United States Postal Service to deliver ballots only to voters determined by federal authorities to be eligible.

Both were blocked by federal courts.

The administration has also demanded voter rolls from Maryland and other states. The detailed databases contain personal identifying information and even detailed voter histories. Maryland has joined a number of other states in refusing the request, an action that has resulted in federal lawsuits by the administration.

There have also been a number of high-profile raids. Federal agents seized ballots in Georgia as the president continues to press unsubstantiated claims of election fraud in the 2020 election.

Last month, agents with the FBI and Homeland Security  from a progressive group focused on social justice and voting rights.

Tyree said there is real cause to worry about the possibility of similar actions in Maryland against election officials and voting rights advocates.

“We’re not doing anything wrong. We’re just trying to get people to vote, but if your goal is to stop people from voting, or more specifically, if your goal is to stop people from voting who you know won’t vote for you or for your interested party, this is a really good way to do it,” Tyree said. “Have a bunch of raids that don’t mean anything. Arrest the top election official for doing his job.”

‘There will be a response’

Dhillon gives DeMarinis five days to respond with information about “how the state of Maryland intends to ensure it is complying with these federal laws both at the state and local level.”

A department spokesperson did not respond to questions about the consequences of not meeting the five-day deadline.

DeMarinis said “there will be a response” but did not immediately outline what it might say.

Those responses are to be sent to William Mohrman, a newly hired senior counsel who was also the lead attorney in a lawsuit against DeMarinis and the elections board last month.

Mohrman once represented Minnesota officers accused in the police custody death of George Floyd. He is part of a group of attorneys who worked on challenges to the 2020 election and have been hired within the Civil Rights Division.

Mohrman led the department’s federal lawsuit seeking comprehensive . A federal judge .

On Monday, the department filed a notice of appeal.

Mohrman also represents the department in a similar lawsuit in Georgia.

DeMarinis, commenting on the appeal, said he believed the state was on solid legal grounds to deny access to the voting records and believed the agency would prevail.

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The legislature is set to return Aug. 3-5 to consider legislation that would clarify how congressional districts can be drawn — a reaction to a 2022 court decision that resulted in the current maps in which the Democratic Party holds seven of the state’s eight districts. The special session was announced by Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) and House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk Tuesday in a joint statement.

The announcement represents a reversal — in part — for Ferguson. The Senate leader had previously opposed midcycle congressional redistricting. He bottled up a bill passed in February by the House.

But in May, he said a Supreme Court ruling on the landmark Voting Rights Act and elections in Indiana in which President Donald Trump successfully turned out Republican state senators who blocked redistricting there, warranted a new look at the issue in Maryland, and the potential for a special session.

“After recent court decisions weakened the federal Voting Rights Act and created new uncertainty around congressional redistricting, Maryland needs a clear legal path forward,” Ferguson said in a statement. “This special session will allow the General Assembly to do its part while ensuring that Maryland voters make the final decision.”

The House of Delegates had joined Gov. Wes Moore (D) earlier this year to push for a Maryland response to hyperpartisan congressional redistricting undertaken by Texas and other Republican states at Trump’s urging, in an effort to stave off potential midterm losses and the possibility that Democrats could retake control of the House of Representatives.

“Consensus on this issue has been clear in the House. Maryland needs a durable, transparent constitutional framework for congressional redistricting that reflects the evolving legal landscape,” Peña-Melnyk said in Tuesday’s joint statement. “This special session gives the General Assembly the opportunity to respond thoughtfully to recent court decisions while ensuring that Maryland voters have the final say on any proposed constitutional changes.”

The announcement came hours after Moore told reporters in Glen Burnie that an announcement on such a session was imminent.

“For months, I have said that inaction is not an option and we cannot sit on the sidelines while voting rights, fair representation, and the foundations of our democracy come under attack across the country,” Moore said in a statement released after the announcement from the legislative leaders. “I appreciate the General Assembly’s continued conversations and the agreement to come back to finish the work.”

What comes out of the session is likely to be less than what was hoped for by Moore and House Democrats.

It is unlikely lawmakers will take up new maps, which could not be enacted for the current election cycle.

Instead, it is likely that legislation — which has not been made public — will be limited to setting standards for new maps. Such a change to the Maryland Constitution would undo a 2022 ruling that said Congressional districts in Maryland must be compact, contiguous and mindful of jurisdictional and natural boundaries.

— This story will be updated.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: editor@marylandmatters.org.

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The board unanimously approved the purchase even as one member raised concerns about the future of racing in the state. Racing officials, however, painted an optimistic picture for the industry. The purchase of Laurel Park and the expected acquisition of intellectual property rights for the Preakness Stakes has set the industry in Maryland on the inside track to success, they said.

“Laurel will be one of the backbones of racing in Maryland’s racing industry,” Maryland Jockey Club Chair James T. Dresher Jr. told the board Wednesday. “It’s been a home of Maryland racing for many decades, and it will be of great use as a training facility. This also, in addition to the purchase of the Preakness IP, puts Marylanders in full control of our future. Now we have all the pieces of the puzzle for our industry to succeed.”

The three-member board unanimously approved purchasing the property owned by 1/ST LLC.

“I think this is the right decision as well to move forward, given the industry is, of course, as many people have articulated, a major employer, a major revenue generator, which I appreciate,” said Comptroller Brooke Lierman. “And Laurel Park has been part of Maryland’s racing history for over a century.”

Not everyone on the board was as optimistic or enthusiastic.

Treasurer Dereck Davis said he is concerned that “we’re making a big bet on horse racing, and frankly, I just don’t see it. We can talk about the revenue, but what about the cost? We put literally hundreds of millions of dollars into this, and we have to look at the opportunity cost, and I don’t mean to sound like a broken record, but I don’t want that to get missed. The opportunity cost — what else … we could have been doing, and can be doing with that same revenue.”

Almost a year ago the state ponied up nearly $5 million for Shamrock Farm. The 328-acre Carroll County farm was expected to be the site of a modern training facility. The state now intends to sell that property.

The purchase price of Laurel Park is nearly 10 times higher than the cost of a Carroll County farm.

Davis also worried that the push to prop up horse racing in Maryland is driven by nostalgia.

“We’ve got to take a hard look at this, and go, can this work on its own, or is this something that we permanently have to prop up? Davis said. “I mean, the numbers are just sort of staggering to me … this is not monopoly money. These are real dollars that can help real citizens and do real things for the state of Maryland that will help it move forward, as opposed to trying to keep, you know, a dream, an industry afloat.”

Thoroughbred racing has struggled for decades in Maryland. The decaying Pimlico Race Course, home of the second leg of racing’s Triple Crown, became a symbol of the industry’s decline.

In 2024, the General Assembly renewed efforts to preserve the industry with the so-called Pimlico Plus Plan, which consolidated thoroughbred racing in the state. Tracks owned by the Stronach family and 1/ST would close, with the exception of Pimlico, effectively making the state government the operator of thoroughbred racing in Maryland.

A newly created Maryland Thoroughbred Race Track Operating Authority would take over racing and the razing and reconstruction of Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. The authority was disbanded a year later with operations split between the Maryland Stadium Authority and the Maryland Economic Development Corp.

As part of the deal, the state also entered into an “exclusive and perpetual” licensing deal with the Stronach Group and 1/ST for the rights to the Preakness and Black-eyed Susan Stakes. The deal included all associated trademarks and memorabilia.

Earlier this year, Stronach and 1/ST announced it planned to sell the intellectual property to Churchill Downs Inc. for $85 million. Weeks later, Gov. Wes Moore announced the state would exercise its right to match the offer and buy the property it was leasing from 1/ST.

The move gives the state complete control over the Preakness and thoroughbred racing. Once the Pimlico facility is reconstructed, the plan is to hold 120 days of racing at the facility.

Maryland Stadium Authority officials told the board they will now move forward with plans to sell Shamrock Farm and that it could be offered for sale as early as the fall.

Initially, the plan had been to use the property for the new training facility. It was later determined after the purchase was finalized that the cost of building the facility on the property would be excessive and environmentally problematic.

Craig A. Thompson, chair of the Maryland Stadium Authority, said the Shamrock Farm project would cost $212 million “over double what had been previously stated, and considerably straining available funding to rebuild Pimlico.”

The “pivot to Laurel Park will save the state roughly $50 million,” Thompson said.

Davis raised concerns that the state will lose money.

“There’s always a chance that could happen,” Gary McGuigan, executive vice president of capital projects development for the Maryland Stadium Authority, told Davis.

McGuigan said the real estate market “seems to have softened a little bit in about a year’s time, so we’ll have to see what the appetite is.”

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