Redistricting Puts 1st Dist. in Flux; Rep. Andy Harris Takes it in Stride

(First of two articles) Rep. Andy Harris doesn’t know where his political home will be after the upcoming redistricting this fall but for now, the First District Republican is spending his summer “vacation” working the small towns and waterways of the Eastern Shore. “I enjoy representing the Shore,” he told Cecil Times on Wednesday in an exclusive interview over lunch in Galena. Harris had just finished a boat tour of the Bohemia River with a Cecil County waterman who harvests catfish. “I personally hope that, for political reasons, they don’t divide the Eastern Shore,” he said. “They” are Democrats. Harris is resigned to the fact that Democrats are firmly in control of the redistricting process. Democrats hold all but one seat on the governor’s redistricting panel; the state’s congressional delegation that is playing a major role in behind-the-scenes maneuvers is dominated by Democrats; and a Democratic governor will present his redistricting plan to a Democratic-controlled General Assembly during a special legislative session in October. “It’s almost shameless partisan politics,” Harris said, and a process that makes voters “cynical about government.” The current 1st District includes all of the Eastern Shore as well as parts of Harford, Baltimore, and Anne Arundel […]