Governor Wes Moore drops major redistricting update

I'm joined now by the governor of. Maryland, Wes Moore. Governor, thanks. for joining me. >> Great to be back with you. >> So, we have some breaking polling here. as it relates to uh the situation. unfolding in your state of Maryland. That polling says that 70% support the. state legislature redrawing the state's. congressional maps before November and. hearing arguments for and against it. So. given the fact that you have nearly 3/4. of Marylanders who support um redrawing. the state's maps, what is your message. then to Bill Ferguson, who is the state.

senate president, the leader of the. state senate, who is the sole impediment. of this whole process moving forward? Well, you know, it's funny because when. the when the polling came back, I said, you know, that we're now seeing how the. the fact that people are asking the. Senate to debate this and discuss it. that this is about as popular as ice. cream. >> at this point. >> And so, the people are speaking, but the. reality is I actually didn't even need a. poll to know this because if you go. around our communities, people are. saying we are watching what is happening.

to our neighborhoods and they're also. saying you can't separate these things. You can't separate federal agents who. are invading communities and you cannot. separate people watching their health. care being pul pulled away and people. who are watching food assistance being. clawed away and somehow think that that. is now separate from the redistricing. conversation. It is not. The. redistricing conversation is about are. you going to allow an unchecked. executive which is what we have right. now. And so I would just hope that that.

the Senate President and the members of. the Senate uh read the room, listen to. your people because the people are. speaking loud and clear. They want you. to do what the House of Delegates has. already had the courage to do, which is. debate it, discuss it, make changes if. you see fit, but then take a vote. But. not taking a vote is the most. undemocratic thing that you can do. And. so you can't claim you're you're trying. to save democracy by doing something. that is the antithesis of democracy.

>> And so what can folks who are watching. and and listening both in Maryland and. outside of Maryland, what can what can. we all do to make our voices heard in. the most effective way? Well, I think. it's important for for for people in. Maryland to make sure that you are. contacting your representatives and. contacting your state senators and. letting them know you're paying. attention and letting them know you are. watching that that we do have uh you. know, everybody knows that this is going. to be an election year. It's not just an. election year for Congress. It's an. election year for all of us. It's an.

election year for me. It's an election. year for every senator in Maryland. And. people need to know that people are. paying attention and they are watching. They're watching how they move. And I. know that for for for many people, you. know, myself included, we all have, you. know, we all have opponents. We all have. people that we are trying to remind uh. the voters in Maryland that that we want. your vote and your confidence for the. next four years. And so it's important. that voters and we saw in the poll. numbers that people are speaking loud. and clear. They want us to take a vote.

They want us to debate these issues. They do not want democracy to die in the. free state. That's not who we are as. Marylanders. And so it's important that. people hear from their representative, hear speak to their representatives, and. that we keep on being loud about it. >> And and I should also note that um even. Bill Ferguson himself has drawn a. primary challenger, Bobby Le Pin, um who. has taken a position, you know, in favor. of making sure that people can have. their voices be heard and take a more. democratic process in all of this. Can.

can I have your reaction though to the. fact that you know while you have some. state senators led by Bill Ferguson who. are taking an overly cautious approach. to all of this? I mean the reality is. that that this isn't theoretical. This. isn't like oh m like maybe we can engage. in this but it might backfire. We've. seen it work in California. We've seen. the process work in Virginia. And so the. argument that we couldn't possibly get. it done because what if it fails is is. undermined by by, you know, by what.

we've seen with our own two eyes in in. California where we where we now have. new maps and and look, there were a. million reasons to have not done it. It's difficult. It's hard to do and it's. a short timeline, but they they. recognize the urgency of the moment and. they got it done. legislators in. Virginia are in the exact same boat. where there would have been a million. reasons not to do it, but they. recognized the urgency of the moment and. they got it done. And so what's the. excuse um to not move forward with this. process. understanding that California Democrats.

saw the national environment, saw the. urgency of this moment, they they they. got the they understood the assignment. Virginia Democrats understood the. assignment. So, what's the excuse for. this small tranch of of Maryland. Democrats to not, you know, to not get. what what's happening right now? and and. and also knowing that this is not going. to be a violation of Maryland law either. because it's that's a that's it's. another fallacy that keeps that uh keeps. on getting thrown into this and where. we're watching the goalpost continue to. move where where you know uh if you look.

at Representative Rascin Jamie Rascin. who is a constitutional lawyer by the. way put together a brilliant piece a few. days ago and people they should go to. Jamie Rascin's uh social media sites if. they want to find it but basically. anyone who is claiming that this would. be a violation of Maryland law. He in a. most in a in a beautiful way obliterates. that argument. And I know I have spoken. to enough lawyers and enough. constitutional lawyers who also say that. the argument that somehow this would.

could backfire or we could lose seats. They're saying that's just factually. incorrect. >> Yeah. And so I would urge people to go. and actually check out Jamie Rascin's. letter that he wrote out and urging the. Maryland Senate to move because Jaime. Raskin, as he told me just just. yesterday, he's like, "We're losing. votes in the House of Representatives. every day by one vote." Like one vote. matters in this. Protecting our. democracy matters in this. And if you. look at the way he laid out and the. critiques that he has to anyone who's. arguing that somehow this would be a.

violation of Maryland law, it is just. not true. And so we know, you know, there's no way I would have gone through. this process or anyone would have gone. through this process if we did not speak. with people who have real authority and. understanding on the on the legal. contours of this. And we know that. moving in this manner, not only does. Maryland have the authority, but. Maryland has the responsibility to make. sure we're taking this moment seriously, and we're just asking the Maryland. Senate to just debate it and take a. vote.

Is there any other avenue aside from. this going through the state senate for. this, you know, for the maps to to be. redrawn or is this the sole avenue that. that has to be taken here? >> Well, the Maryland Senate is going to. have to move on it. Um the the only way. you can do this is if you do it through. the legislative process, you know, we. don't have the same kind of prop system. um you know, that that other states. might have. But if you look at what the. House of Delegates actually passed, the. House of Delegates passed emergency. legislation basically saying that we.

were going to look at the new maps for. this election that comes up in November, but then does put it on the ballot and. says to the people, but if you want to. go back to the old maps, you can do that. in 2028. But this is emergency. legislation for 2026. So the House. actually did a very creative and. thoughtful thing saying even for people. who are against this or want to put it. to a ballot, they actually have an. escape clause right in the in the bill. that they passed and even that was. enough to get the Maryland Senate to be. able to move on this. Now we have seen.

some some some real uh real courage from. some Maryland senators. You know, we saw. Senator Arthur Ellis last week stand up. and demand a vote. We saw Senator. Senator Clarence Lamb come up and demand. a vote. So, the other thing that I I'm. pretty clear on is I know that there are. enough senators that if we, you know, that if this goes to a vote, this will. pass. And so, that's why the idea that. the votes aren't there, uh, my point is. prove it because the only way we'll know. that for a fact is a vote. Well,

obviously, we're in February. We're. talking about an election that's taking. place in November. So, time is of the. essence, as it always is. What's the. deadline for some movement here before, you know, what's our what's our drop. deadad date? what's the the break glass. date in terms of getting this thing. done? >> Well, and that it's another really good. point because some people will argue. that, oh, it's it's just too late. And. the the reality is that's just not true. because these dates that have been put. out, they've been put out by. politicians, which means they can be. changed by politicians. uh that the the.

House has actually been working on. legislation that actually focuses on. decoupling the the [snorts] primary. dates for the congressional races and. the state senate and the and the house. races. So there are there are always. adjustments that can be made to make. sure that the clock doesn't run out, but. that is definitely obviously a strategy. for some that they just say, "Hey, listen. Let's just wait for this thing. to go and then eventually say it's. people will say it's too late." But. again, the reality is these are. arbitrary dates that were put together. by politicians. So these can be dates.

that can be adjusted by politicians as. well. >> Can you talk about the courage that's. needed right now in this moment? Not not. just from like, you know, we we spend so. much time talking about the Democratic. brand. And I think the part that's so. frustrating for for most people, myself. included, is that it always feels like. Democrats are are looking for some. reason to get to no while Republicans. will find any avenue to get to yes. I. mean, there's not a single person. watching this that doesn't remember how. they felt over the fact that Mitch.

McConnell um you know blocked Merrick. Garland from being able to have uh have. his uh seat, you know, his nomination. heard for the Supreme Court. And yet. when it came time for Amy Coney Barrett. um to have her nomination heard when. when votes were already being cast, Mitch McConnell got it done. And so. there's always a way for them to get to. yes. And and including in this situation. here, it looks like Democrats will often. search for for an avenue to get to know. And and so can you just talk about the. courage that's needed, you know, not. just to fix our brand problem, but to.

but you know, in the little time that we. have left as we have an increasingly. authoritarian Republican party bear down. on us, you know, the the window, frankly, is closing because if. Republicans are able to usurp full. control, um this is a party that's. already shown a proclivity to to, you. know, rig or undermine free and fair. elections, you don't come back from. that. >> Yeah. You know, it's it's um it's. interesting, Brian, because you know, I. as you know, like I I don't come from a. political background, right? I don't. come from a political family. Um this is.

the first elected office I've ever held. My background is is, you know, I was in. the the the private sector. Uh I ran one. of the largest poverty fighting. organizations in this country. And I'm a. soldier. That's my background. I'm a. soldier. And I have never understood how. you can watch people when your people. are under attack for you just to sit. there. >> Yeah. >> and say, "Well, I'm not sure if or how. we should respond. You must respond.

Your people are under attack." And we. are watching this taking place in every. single community. Just a couple weeks. ago, I mean, we saw how over in. Salisbury over in the Eastern Shore, we. had a mom who ICE picked up. who was simply trying to and then told. them, "Yeah, my son is sick. I need to. go back to my son." And they declined. They told her, "We are not letting you. go." And her son died of cancer.

How is that making us safer? We have an unchecked executive. and we know that if we have the tools to. be able to respond to that, we must. And. frankly, as a Democratic party, and. again, I'm not I I don't I don't come. from the party machine. The party never. made me. In fact, the party put millions. of dollars to try to stop me when I was. when I ran for when I ran for governor. And so, my ask is this. We need to stop. being this party of no and slow and.

start being a party of yes and now. Stop. using your energy trying to figure out. what we need to do to not move. What. creative thing can we come up with today. as to why we should not respond and. start using your energy to be able to. focus on the things that we should do? You know, I just gave my state of the. state and when people said, well, you. know, I don't think he's going to bring. this up in the state of the state. I. don't, you know, no, not that platform. And you know the very first issue I. brought up in the state of the state. redistricting. >> Yeah. >> And for anyone who was surprised I said.

let me intro let me reintroduce myself. to you. I do not have a problem speaking. truth to power. And I do not have a. problem standing up and and and. defending my people on every single hill. on platform that I have. And right now. we need to act. We need to respond. And. for the people of my state, we need to. demand that the Maryland Senate act that. they vote and however the vote goes is. however the vote goes. Frankly, that's. democracy. If they vote it down, they.

vote it down. But you cannot just put it in a draw. That is not how we move here and that is. not what this moment is requiring. >> Perfectly put. We'll leave it there. Gov. I appreciate you taking the lead on. this issue, continuing to bring this. fight and thank you so much for taking. the time today. God bless, man. Thank. you so much for everything. [music].