Gov. Wes Moore’s redistricting commission convened on Friday for its second meeting on Zoom, where residents and elected officials showed just how much Marylanders disagree on what their representation in Congress should look like.

The first hour of remarks ran the gamut of Democratic support for redistricting and Republican rebukes of Moore’s plans — from a dozen citizens, political insiders, and state house delegates.

“It is just wrong to politically disenfranchise an entire region of the state,” Republican Del. Matt Morgan said during the meeting. “Nothing is more totalitarian than a shell commission set up with a predetermined outcome. If this commission goes forward with redistricting — and this isn’t gerrymandering, this is eliminating the Republicans’ voice throughout the state — it would be a gross misuse of power.”

Brandon Tucker, senior director of policy and government affairs at non-profit organization Color of Change, said his organization will stand firm behind redistricting measures.

“What is at stake is not in question. The Trump administration openly encouraged a strategy to maintain power in 2026,” Tucker said in the meeting. “Republican …states answered that call. They redrew maps to carve out voters of color attempting to rig the midterms, evad(ing) accountability. And they banked on a familiar, well-founded assumption that their opponents would gasp in disbelief, complain about the audacity, and do nothing.”

“Fortunately, not everyone was willing to sit back and get played,” Tucker continued.

At the start of the meeting, Maryland Department of Planning Deputy Secretary Kristin Fleckenstein — who also moderated — said that almost 100 individuals had requested to speak. The full committee was present. However, Sen. Angela Alsobrooks left the meeting shortly after her opening remarks. When asked about Alsobrooks’ whereabouts, The Sun got no response.

The commission’s already-scheduled meeting occurred on the heels of Moore responding with the acronym “IDGAF” on Tuesday when MSNBC asked him to react to a Washington Post opinion column that called his redistricting push “embarrassing.”

That same day, Moore’s commission held its first meeting, sans drama, but not without criticism from Cumberland Mayor Ray Morriss, who questioned the commission’s validity. Morriss said he was “trying to figure out what the problem is” that the commission was trying to fix. Morriss is the lone Republican on the five-person redistricting commission.

Morriss did not respond to a request for comment from The Sun.

Ahead of the commission’s Friday meeting, however, Senate President Bill Ferguson called it a “distraction from the mission.”

“The highest and best use of the General Assembly’s time is keeping Maryland on strong fiscal footing by lowering costs for families and tackling the issues they care about most,” Ferguson said in a statement to The Baltimore Sun. “We must act with urgency to confront the real challenges ahead in the upcoming session.”

House Minority Leader Jason Buckel struck a similar tune and also called Moore’s comments on MSNBC “inappropriate” and “frivolous.”

“I would suggest that its point is clear — to enact an extreme partisan gerrymander that satisfies the national Democratic agenda at the expense of Maryland,” Buckel said in a text to The Baltimore Sun.

Rep. Andy Harris said, “The only ‘problem’ Gov. Moore sees is that Maryland voters elected a Republican from the First District — which is democracy.”

“What Gov. Moore really means with his disgraceful ‘IDGAF’ attitude is that he doesn’t care about the millions of Marylanders who oppose this blatantly political redistricting stunt and simply want fair representation in Congress,” he said in a statement to The Baltimore Sun.

Ammar Moussa, senior press secretary for the governor, shot back at Republicans and asserted that Moore is standing firm in his redistricting push. Moussa accused Republican leaders of seeming “far more offended by a cable-news quip than they ever were by the mid-decade power grabs their own party pushed in red states.”

“The governor created a bipartisan commission precisely so Marylanders — not politicians — can have an open conversation about representation, and he looks forward to their work,” Moussa said in a statement to The Baltimore Sun. “And if Republican-led states like Texas, Ohio, and Missouri are going to examine their maps mid-decade, so will Maryland.”

None of the individuals who spoke when The Baltimore Sun was logged into the meeting voiced concerns about Moore’s remarks on MSNBC. But Republicans were clear that they’re protecting their lone congressional seat.

“Gerrymandering is not democracy at its best. It’s politicians picking voters,” Jacinta Bottoms-Spencer, a member of St. Mary’s County GOP, said in the meeting.

James Wass, who said they are from Prince George’s County, rebuked Democrats’ actions as reactionary.

“The Maryland Constitution does not ask us, ‘What would Texas do?’ It doesn’t ask us, ‘What would California do?’” Wass said in the meeting.

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