Opting for the more dramatic option, however, will be no easy task for O’Malley.
To take on both Bartlett and Harris, the governor would have to significantly redraw not only the two Republican districts but also every congressional line in the state.
With Democrats controlling redistricting in a minority of states this year, Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) and Democratic lawmakers are seeking to tilt to the left districts now controlled by one, and possibly both, Maryland Republican House members.
Bob Schieffer spoke with Gov. Haley Barbour (R-Miss.) and Gov. Martin O'Malley (D-Md.) on how the politics of Gov. Chris Christie and his potential presidential bid will shake up the 2012 GOP election. (Oct. 2)
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That would leave Maryland’s six incumbent Democrats with the uneasy task of running for reelection next year in districts with boundaries that would be far different than they are today.
Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the ranking member on the House Budget Committee, for example, would have only 50 percent of his current district and would have to introduce himself new to voters in Washington, Frederick and other counties. Rep. John Sarbanes, would have only 37 percent of his current 3rd Congressional District.
“I would like to keep my district together as much as we could,” said Rep. C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger after a redistricting meeting with O’Malley on Friday. “When you represent someone for over nine years, that’s important to me. But it’s a process. . . . I know what I want, but it’s not me voting on it,” he said.
Ruppersberger was one of six of the state’s sitting House members who accepted invitations to O’Malley’s office on Friday to discuss redistricting. Most of the lawmakers said O’Malley did not show them any maps, but only described his goals and asked for input.
Rep. Elijiah E. Cummings, whose Baltimore district shrunk the most and would expand into Baltimore County under the draft maps, left his meeting and said only that there was no map.
“We have more work to do; we’re not done yet,” he said.
But even as the meetings took place, officials were fine-tuning the maps on Friday. And for some growing excitement among the state’s Democratic faithful about the possibility of sweeping Maryland’s House delegation, others said the potential pitfalls and backlash O’Malley could face from his party’s incumbents would likely squash the most ambitious plan.
In either case, the draft maps suggest the revamp from the 2010 Census will force hundreds of thousands in Washington’s Maryland suburbs to get used to having a new representative in Congress.
Van Hollen would lose a portion of his Montgomery constituency, as would Rep. Donna F. Edwards, who might expand into Anne Arundel County.
The extension of Bartlett’s district down the I-270 corridor, into Gaithersburg and parts of Rockville could also bring a new face to the state’s political scene, or provide an outlet for one of Montgomery’s many ambitious young lawmakers.
State Sen. Robert J. Garagiola, the majority leader, is known to be interested in running if Bartlett’s district is put into contention.
Bartlett did not meet with O’Malley on Friday, but the governor’s office said it was because of a scheduling conflict and that the two plan to sit down this week.
Harris, a former state senator who unsuccessfully sought to have redistricting carried out by an independent commission when he was in office, did return to Annapolis on Friday to meet with the governor. He laughed when asked if there was anything Republicans could do to prevent O’Malley or Democrats from targeting his or Bartlett’s seats.
“Look, that’s the way redistricting works in Maryland,” he said. “At least, that’s the way it works for now.”
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