Maryland general election, November 3, 2026
The 1st District today, and under House Bill 488.
In February the House passed a map that moved the 1st District across the Bay. The Senate never voted on it. The rule change that came with it came back alone in August, as Question 3.
Here is that map, county by county, and why this site says Question 3 clears the way for one like it.
The trade
Cecil and Harford out. Parts of Anne Arundel and Howard in.
The map took out Cecil and Harford, which voted for Trump, and added parts of Anne Arundel and Howard, whose counties voted for Harris by 14 and 41 points. Switch the map to see the trade as people.
- Feb. 2The House passes House Bill 488: Question 3’s first two clauses plus a new map of all eight districts.
- ThenThe Senate never votes on it.
- Aug. 3–5A three-day special session passes the first part on its own. That is Question 3.
- Sept. 3The Supreme Court of Maryland rewrites its ballot wording.
The map that came with Question 3The 1st District, held by Republican Rep. Andy Harris. The spikes show where people live in the places the map touches: one for each census tract, taller where it is more crowded (2020 Census), red where the county voted for Donald Trump in 2024 and blue where it voted for Kamala Harris. Anne Arundel and Howard, only partly in the bill’s district, are drawn at that part’s share of their people; today’s small piece of Baltimore County is not drawn. Hover or tap a county for its facts.
Eastern Shore’s share of the district 59%
Today’s 1st District 771,925 people
- CarolineTrump +3833,414
- CecilTrump +31103,963
- Queen Anne’sTrump +2849,834
- WorcesterTrump +2252,607
- SomersetTrump +1721,807
- DorchesterTrump +1532,720
- HarfordTrump +14261,465
- WicomicoTrump +5104,227
- KentTrump +319,239
- TalbotEven37,598
- Part of Baltimore Countycounty-wide voteHarris +2455,051
- The whole district todayTrump +17771,925 people
County votes: State Board of Elections, 2024, the whole county for the parts. District figures: The Banner’s analysis, Feb. 2, 2026. People: the 2020 Census as adjusted by Maryland; the bill prints no totals for its Anne Arundel and Howard parts, so they are shown together.
Our view: this is the kind of map Question 3 clears the way for. It reaches across the Bay to outvote the Eastern Shore, which went for Trump by 19 points. The Shore keeps the district’s name and loses its majority in it.
- Eastern Shoreall nine counties
- 59%455,409 people
- Harford and part of Baltimore County
- 41%316,516 people
- Eastern Shoreeight counties; Cecil moved out
- about 46%351,446 people
- Parts of Anne Arundel and Howardacross the Bay
- about 54%about 420,500 people
Population from the 2020 Census as adjusted by Maryland. House Bill 488 prints no district totals, so its shares are estimates.
The bill would trade Cecil, Harford and part of Baltimore County for parts of Anne Arundel and Howard, across the Bay. The Banner described it as “excising Cecil and Harford counties” and “adding more liberal voters from parts of Anne Arundel and Howard counties.” By its count, that turns a district Donald Trump won by 17 points into one Kamala Harris would have won by 14.
All eight seats
Seven of eight today. Eight of eight under the bill, by the 2024 vote.
Zoom out from the 1st District to the whole delegation: the 2022 plan’s eight districts, colored by the party holding each, beside House Bill 488’s redrawn 1st.
Today
Seven Democrats and one Republican. Andy Harris holds the 1st, the only seat his party has in the state.
Under House Bill 488
The 1st becomes a district Kamala Harris carried by 14 points, by The Banner’s analysis. The bill redraws the other seven too.
Our view: a map drawn for eight seats of eight.
Delegation: House Clerk, October 2026. Votes: State Board of Elections, 2024. The 1st under the bill is House Bill 488’s, by county, parts hatched; its lean is The Banner’s analysis, Feb. 2, 2026.
By county
The 1st District by county, and the two plans before it.
Question 3 doesn’t draw a new map. It changes the rules the next one has to follow.
- Whole county in the district
- Part of the county
Drawn by county from the official district lists; not precinct-exact.
In the 2022 court case, the challengers’ expert counted 21 county splits in the 2012 plan; for today’s plan, the State’s lawyer counted 9 and the challengers 9 or 10. Different people counted with different methods, so they are not a like-for-like comparison.
Map shapes: U.S. Census Bureau.
What each side said
Before the bill, and after.
The 1st District has elected Andy Harris since 2010. The House passed House Bill 488 on February 2, 99 to 37.
This January, the governor’s redistricting commission voted 3–2 for a map concept that would stretch the 1st District, the state’s only Republican-held seat, from the Eastern Shore over the Bay Bridge into Anne Arundel and Howard counties. Senate President Bill Ferguson, who voted no, said it “breaks apart more neighborhoods and communities than our existing map.” That concept did not become law. Question 3 would remove the state rules a map like it could be challenged under.
House Minority Leader Jason Buckel said the commission’s aim was “to rid Maryland of any Republican representation in Congress and disenfranchise voters in Western Maryland and the Eastern Shore.”
The bill’s lead sponsor, Del. C.T. Wilson: “This map is not about getting eight Democrats. It’s about getting eight congressmen — Republicans or Democrats — to stand up against this poorly veiled autocratic autocracy.”
Maryland Matters, January 21, 2026; The Banner, February 2, 2026.
Why we’re against it, with the rules the amendment would remove, is on the main page.
Keep reading
- The whole storyQuestion 3 taken apart, in plain words, and why we’re against it.
- The textThe ballot wording, the sentence it replaced, the state’s summary and the amendment.
- All three questionsQuestions 1, 2 and 3 as printed, with what each vote does, and the dates to vote.
- PollsAll three polls, with their numbers, dates and wording.
- The lawWhat the 2026 law requires, and the dates and votes that put Question 3 past it.
- ResultsStatewide and by county, as the State Board of Elections posts them.
Sources
Maps and county results
- U.S. Census Bureau, 2024 cartographic boundary files (counties, 119th Congress districts)
- U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 cartographic boundary files (116th Congress districts, the 2012 plan)
- Maryland Department of Planning, 2022 congressional districts (SB 1012)
- Maryland Department of Planning, 2011 congressional districts (SB 1)
- State Board of Elections, 2012 Question 5 results by county
- General Assembly, House Bill 488 (2026)
- General Assembly, SB 1012 congressional plan, county components
- The Banner, House approves congressional map, Feb. 2, 2026
- Maryland Matters, commission recommends map concept, Jan. 21, 2026
- Rep. Andy Harris, official biography
- Office of the Clerk, U.S. House, Maryland members
- Wesberry v. Sanders, 376 U.S. 1 (1964), equal population for congressional districts
- Voting Rights Act, Section 2 (52 U.S.C. § 10301)
- State Board of Elections, 2024 general election data files (county results, PG24_NNCountyResults.csv)
- Szeliga v. Lamone, memorandum opinion and order, March 25, 2022 (scan)
- Szeliga v. Lamone, supplemental findings, April 1, 2022 (scan)
Every fact on this page is sourced on the whole story’s sources list as well. Quoted wording is in the serif; this site’s own words are in the sans.