Harris Held On. Question 3 Is What Comes Next.

By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews

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Rep. Andy Harris won a ninth term in Maryland’s 1st District, but with the smallest share of the vote he has taken in the last three elections. Statewide, voters approved Question 3, the constitutional amendment that removes the state’s compactness rules from congressional redistricting, by more than 22 percentage points.

Voters authorized a new legal framework. They did not vote on a map. That decision now sits with Democratic leaders in Annapolis.

All figures below are unofficial State Board of Elections returns updated Nov. 10, with provisional ballots not yet reported.

“Voters authorized a new legal framework. They did not vote on a map. That decision now sits with Democratic leaders in Annapolis.”

Harris survives a tougher race

Harris beat Democrat Dan Schwartz 53.24 percent to 46.59 percent, a lead of 19,994 votes, or about 6.65 points. On election night, he looked safer. Unofficial returns the morning after had him at 55.7 percent, and the number fell as mail ballots, which lean Democratic, were counted.

Here is how that compares with his recent races, using State Board of Elections totals:

Election	Harris	Democratic opponent
2022	54.43%	Heather Mizeur, 43.13%
2024	59.41%	Blane Miller III, 37.37%
2026 (unofficial)	53.24%	Dan Schwartz, 46.59%

“Harris’ 2026 race was his weakest showing of the last three, not evidence that his support has declined steadily since 2022.”

Harris’ 2022 race against Mizeur was also relatively close once mail ballots were counted. The fair reading is that 2026 was his weakest showing of the three, not that his support has dropped steadily since 2022.

Schwartz carried three counties. He won Wicomico 16,894 to 15,219, Talbot 9,766 to 8,240 and Kent 4,306 to 3,869. Harford County, the district’s largest, was the closest of the counties Harris won: 54,388 to 52,270, a gap of 2,118 votes.

Harris told reporters on election night that the blue wave did not hit the 1st District, per Maryland Matters.

Schwartz ran while opposing Question 3. He argued that redrawing the district could weaken the Eastern Shore’s representation by tying it to communities elsewhere in the state, per WJLA. That is a notable position for a Democrat trying to unseat the incumbent the amendment could target. Moore’s position was the opposite. He told voters at a final rally that Question 3 was about democracy, not a seat.

The amendment passed statewide anyway, but voters rejected it in every county that overlaps the 1st District except Baltimore County, where only a portion of the county falls within Harris’ district. In Harford County, where Harris narrowly beat Schwartz, Question 3 lost 59,796 to 44,714. Countywide totals do not give a precise districtwide vote on the amendment, but they point to real local resistance.

The other incumbents won easily. Democrat April McClain Delaney took the 6th District with 58.29 percent to Republican Robin Ficker’s 38.73 percent. Democrat Adrian Boafo won the open 5th District seat held by Steny Hoyer, taking 70.10 percent to Republican Chris Chaffee’s 29.18 percent.

Moore wins again

Gov. Wes Moore beat Republican Dan Cox for the second time, 64.39 percent to 31.32 percent, a margin of about 33 points. In 2022, he won 64.53 percent to 32.12 percent, a margin of 32.4 points. Moore’s vote total reached 1,356,732, compared with 1,293,944 four years ago. The early morning-after count had him ahead by 29 points, and the Banner noted at the time that mail ballots would push his share up.

Cox campaigned on Moore’s handling of the Key Bridge rebuild. The Banner reported it did not resonate with enough voters.

Moore received about 111,000 more votes than Question 3 got in favor. That compares two separate contests and does not show how any group of Moore voters voted on the amendment.

Question 3 passes despite the polls

Question 3 won 61.32 percent to 38.68 percent, with 1,245,740 votes in favor and 785,923 against.

Pre-election polling had pointed the other way, though the polls differed on method. A Fight Back Maryland poll by Hart Research Associates, a firm that works with Democratic candidates, surveyed 600 likely voters Sept. 8 to 10. When voters heard the ballot language, 40 percent were in favor, 35 percent opposed, and 25 percent undecided. Support rose to 53 percent after a positive messaging statement. A Protect Maryland Votes poll showed a plurality opposed, with about three in ten undecided, and Fight Back Maryland called it a junk poll. A UMBC Institute of Politics poll of 776 likely voters, taken Sept. 22 to 27 with a margin of error of 3.5 points, described the amendment’s effect in plain terms and found 25 percent for, 53 percent against and 19 percent undecided, per NBC Washington. Democrats split 42 percent against and 35 percent for. The Banner reported that many voters who said they opposed it voted for it anyway.

What Question 3 does, and does not do

The General Assembly sent the amendment to voters as HB 2100, introduced by Speaker Peña-Melnyk. It passed the House 96 to 38 and the Senate 32 to 13 in an August special session, and Moore signed it Aug. 5, per Ballotpedia News.

The amendment does three things, according to the ballot language reported by WBOC and Maryland Matters:

• It clarifies that the state constitution’s standards for legislative districts apply to General Assembly districts, not congressional districts.
• It provides that nothing in the constitution sets criteria for congressional district boundaries.
• It allows the General Assembly to give the Supreme Court of Maryland original jurisdiction to review congressional districting plans.

It does not draw a new map. Federal law still applies to any map the legislature passes.

The background matters. In 2022, a court ruling by Judge Lynne Battaglia tied congressional districts to compactness requirements, in a case led by Del. Kathy Szeliga that struck down a Democratic map that would have made all eight districts favorable to Democrats. Then-Gov. Larry Hogan signed a replacement map on April 4, 2022. Question 3 removes the obstacle that ruling created. The Supreme Court of Maryland also rewrote the ballot language in September, after lower courts found the original misleading.

The map is already on the table

“So the 2027 debate does not start from scratch.”

The House of Delegates passed a congressional map 99 to 37 on Feb. 2, per Roll Call. It would redraw the 1st District to cross the Chesapeake Bay into parts of Anne Arundel and Howard counties, per CBS Baltimore, while dropping Cecil County and parts of Harford and Baltimore counties, per WBOC. The Banner reported the change would turn a district Donald Trump carried by 17 points into one Kamala Harris would have won by 14. The Governor’s Redistricting Advisory Commission had recommended moving forward on a new map, over objections from Senate President Bill Ferguson, per The Daily Record. Ferguson never brought the House map up for a Senate vote, per WYPR. WYPR also reported that it would draw more Democratic voters into Harris’ 1st District and would likely survive a legal challenge now that Question 3 has passed.

So the 2027 debate does not start from scratch.

Ferguson opposed mid-cycle redistricting. He later became one of the strongest supporters of putting Question 3 on the ballot, according to WYPR. After the vote, he said he was pleased the amendment gives Maryland “clear legal standards for redistricting,” and that he would talk with colleagues about next steps, per WYPR. Fox 45 reported he has not committed to taking up a new map next session. The Washington Examiner called him a key obstacle to a map that could produce an 8-0 Democratic delegation.

House leaders are not rushing either. Majority Leader David Moon, a Montgomery County Democrat, told WYPR the decision depends on what other states do and that redistricting is not at the top of his mind for the January session. He said Congress will eventually have to ban mid-decade redistricting nationwide. Joseline Peña-Melnyk, who became Speaker in December 2025, was not quoted in that report.

Moore said he wants the General Assembly to move forward on new maps, per Maryland Matters. That sets up a plain question for Democratic leaders. They asked voters to remove the constitutional obstacles to congressional redistricting. Voters did. Will they use that authority on the state’s last Republican-held seat?

National money behind the amendment

Fight Back MD, the committee backing Question 3, reported $2,280,017.94 in contributions through Oct. 18, according to The Daily Record. About $2,275,529.50 of that was net monetary contributions across its three reports, per MDBayNews’ review of the filings. Fox 45 reported it had more than $1.8 million in cash as of its Oct. 18 filing. Gov. Wes Moore also put more than $1 million from his own campaign funds into pro-Question 3 ads, per The Baltimore Banner. The Banner described the opposing committees as at a huge financial disadvantage. Protect Maryland Votes reported spending about $57,400 from Oct. 5 to Oct. 18 and having about $151,000 left, per Fox Baltimore. The Banner put its total budget at about $200,000, less than a tenth of Fight Back MD’s reported total. MDBayNews documented $1.26 million in payments from DGA Action to the committee through Oct. 28. The $800,000 payment appears in Fight Back MD’s filing, and the later three come from DGA Action’s own 48-hour reports:

• $800,000 on Oct. 16.
• $160,000 on Oct. 26.
• $140,000 on Oct. 27.
• $160,000 on Oct. 28.

The last three payments totaled $460,000 in three days. MDBayNews’ review of the filings found that more than 95 percent of DGA Action’s reported receipts came from the Democratic Governors Association, and that at least 71 percent of Fight Back MD’s net monetary contributions through Oct. 18 came from donors listing addresses outside Maryland. An address does not establish where money ultimately came from. It does show how much of the backing for a change to Maryland’s congressional districts came from outside the state.

Another donor in the Oct. 5 to Oct. 18 report was a committee under Speaker Peña-Melnyk’s name, which transferred $30,000 on Oct. 10, per MDBayNews’ review of the filing.

The filings do not show that spending caused the gap between the polls and the vote. Fight Back MD’s post-general report, due Nov. 17 and covering activity through Nov. 10 under the State Board of Elections schedule, will cover the final weeks.

Supporters framed the amendment as a response to Republican redistricting in other states. Critics said it was a path to eliminating Harris’ seat. The map lawmakers choose, if they choose one, will show how far Maryland Democrats are prepared to go in pursuing an eighth congressional seat.

“The map lawmakers choose, if they choose one, will show how far Maryland Democrats are prepared to go in pursuing an eighth congressional seat.”

One-party Annapolis

The General Assembly has 47 senators and 141 delegates, with three delegates from each of the 47 legislative districts. Democrats retained firm control of both chambers, according to States Newsroom. Entering the cycle, Democrats held a 34-13 Senate majority, per Ballotpedia.

Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey told States Newsroom that Republican results across the state were much worse than anyone projected.

Maryland Democrats now hold the governor’s office, both chambers of the General Assembly and seven of the state’s eight congressional seats.

What to Watch

• Fight Back MD’s Nov. 17 campaign finance report.
• Whether Ferguson, Peña-Melnyk and Moon schedule a congressional map for the 2027 session, and whether it resembles the House-passed version.
• Any legal challenge to a new map, given the court history of the ballot language.
• Certified results, including provisional ballots, which will replace the unofficial figures used here.

“The map lawmakers choose, if they choose one, will show how far Maryland Democrats are prepared to go in pursuing an eighth congressional seat.”

Harris won over the voters of the 1st District. Whether he can do the same after another round of mapmaking in Annapolis is the open question. Question 3 gives Democrats greater latitude to pursue the eighth seat. The question is no longer whether they have the authority to redraw the map. It is whether they will use it.

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Sources: Maryland State Board of Elections unofficial 2026 general election results for Representative in Congress, Governor and Question 3, updated Nov. 10, 2026 (elections.maryland.gov/elections/2026/General_results/gen_results_2026_4.html, gen_results_2026_1.html and gen_qresults_2026_3.html); Maryland State Board of Elections 2026 campaign finance reporting schedule; Maryland State Board of Elections official 2022 results for Representative in Congress, District 1 and Harford County (elections.maryland.gov/elections/2022/general_results/); Maryland Matters, “Andy Harris survived another blue wave. But what now?” and “Moore wants new congressional maps for Maryland after Question 3 victory” (Nov. 4, 2026); The Baltimore Banner, “Maryland General Assembly: who won” (Nov. 4, 2026); The Star Democrat, “Mid-Shore state races favor incumbents, Question 3 passes without support of District 1” (Nov. 2026); The Daily Record, Question 3 campaign finance (Oct. 26, 2026), Fight Back Maryland poll (Sept. 28, 2026), Protect Maryland Votes poll (Sept. 23, 2026), and redistricting commission coverage (Dec. 18, 2025); WJLA, “Obama urges Marylanders to vote yes on Question 3” (fall 2026); WYPR, “What’s next for Maryland’s bitter congressional redistricting fight?” (Sept. 8, 2026) and “Will Maryland redraw its congressional map before 2028? Maybe” (Nov. 5, 2026); WBOC (Aug. 2026); Fox 45 Baltimore, Question 3 coverage and campaign finance reporting (Oct. and Nov. 2026); The Washington Examiner, “Maryland voters approve redistricting Question 3: What to know” (Nov. 2026); States Newsroom, William J. Ford, General Assembly results (Nov. 4, 2026); NBC Washington, “Maryland redistricting enters the spotlight” (fall 2026); Roll Call, Maryland House map vote (Feb. 2, 2026); CBS Baltimore, House passes congressional map; WBOC, House passes redistricting bill; The Baltimore Banner, House redistricting vote and Question 3 spending coverage; Fox Baltimore, Question 3 ad funding (Oct. 2026); Ballotpedia, 2026 Maryland legislative session; MDBayNews, UMBC poll (Oct. 7, 2026), Fight Back MD funding (Oct. 24, 2026), DGA Action (Oct. 28, 2026) and campaign money review (Nov. 3, 2026); Ballotpedia News, Maryland ballot measure coverage (Aug. 6, 2026); Maryland General Assembly, HB 2100 (Chapter 881).

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