Across the country, maps are being challenged, overturned, and redrawn, and those changes will shape who controls Congress in 2026 and beyond. But while other states are recalibrating their political power, Maryland is standing still. In a moment this consequential, standing still is the same as falling behind.

Recent news notes that Democrats could gain seats nationally because courts in some states have struck down Republican gerrymanders. That’s a step in the right direction, but it’s not a strategy. In a narrowly divided House, a single seat could determine whether reproductive rights are protected or stripped away, whether voting protections expand or collapse, and whether working families nationwide get relief or get left behind.

Last time the Maryland General Assembly struggled to sort out ambitions and peacefully replace a House Speaker after the death of the beloved Mike Busch, House factions and geography boiled over and there was talk of recruiting GOP members to tip the balance in a supermajority Democratic body. Remembering that, early aspirants to replace departing House speaker Adrienne Jones tripped over each other stepping aside to clear the way for Prince George's/Anne Arundel Del. Joseline Peña-Melnyk to take the vacant leadership seat.

Civility triumphs. What a contrast to the hopeless mess that is the GOP-majority Congress, where battles over the nitty-gritty (and the most trivial opinion roadblocks to a solution) puts the health care of millions of Americans still further at risk. As our People's Action specialist on D.C. doings Megan E outlines below, "the Trump administration's war on poor people" is relentless and the GOP majority in both houses of Congress is kneeling to the increasingly addled Prez. The latest GOP apostate, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, has illuminated the two-faced nature of the GOP members as they mock Trump in private but fearfully knuckle under in public.

Trump's latest pro-billionaire trick, just today, is to try to pre-empt the efforts of many states to protect their residents from the dangers of corporate artificial intelligence while leaving room for its advantages. While the feds have dawdled in the four years since Chat-GPT began informing/bamboozling its users, states have stepped in. The billionaires of Silicon Valley and their hedge-fund allies are balking, and Trump is listening. He calls them "brilliant" and it's likely they are. But brilliant at what, and at whose expense? It's News You Can Use, so read on below...

With the Holidays here, there a "case of the slows" * in the action around states. Maryland will begin its 90-day legislative session in early January (opening day is January 14)so don't put down your phones quite yet. The Maryland.gov site is "under construction" today, at least as far as legislation filed so far, but the hardworking Department of Legislative Services is beavering away on prep for the 2026 session and has interesting studies and audits to offer -- you can while away your time on that. Don't forget your county delegations to the Assembly will be meeting to discuss upcoming proposals so keep an eye open for that. Note below that as other states slowly assemble law providing for family leave policies, Maryland keeps dragging its legislative feet. 

Meanwhile about 20-ish states' attorneys general are suing the Trump gangsters for their constant flurry of budget cuts (seldom coordinated with Congress, supposedly the budget-and-appropriation branch of government). Our AG Anthony Brown is one of that coalition and as we read below, the serious harm done in Maryland and other states stemming from reckless cuts to housing subsidies would have drastic effects on keeping people securely sheltered during the coldest part of the year.

People's Action DC watcher Megan E also has her assessment of how things are going in DC. The worst news, we all know, had nothing to do with a helpless Congress or disobeyed judges, but with the tragic shootings of National Guard members who were posted to the nation's capital -- quite unnecessarily -- by Trump. His motive was to show off how a president can order people around (including those in uniform) at his whim. The result was the tragic death of a member of the West Virginia guard and life-threatening injuries to another. A suspect is in custody and we may find out his motive. But the suspect had nothing to do with the casual, show-off deployment of guard members in potential harm's way.

It's all News You Can Use. 

*attributed to President Lincoln, speaking of one of his generals

Everybody's in between in News You Can Use this week. The Prez is torn between getting praise and cuddles from Saudi oil barons (and even democratic socialist Mayor-to-be Mamdani!) and getting ripped up by his own base over the Epstein Files (led by the mercurial Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is leaving her House seat for -- where?) Here in the region, fusses over data centers, electric bills and where's the power coming from kind of muddy the waters as many nervously watch the AI bubble to see if it pops, leaving real-estate speculators with big data-center buildings that have no customers, even in the Cloud. In Maryland, the Blueprint for school improvement trudges on while the school population seems to be shrinking. The power bills, on the other hand, are NOT shrinking and it may not be just data center demand but, hmm, greed, incompetence and a still-spineless Public Service Commission. It's all News You Can Use, including lots from the region, the rest of the nation's states, and even some nationwide stuff that is not all about Trump shenanigans. Imagine that.

The Memo will be posted here after the email version has been sent.

Texas and California appear to be in a five-Red, five-Blue mathematical standoff as redistricting fever continues to take hold in states all over the nation. Even here in Maryland, the dominant state Democrats want to root out the last Red district in the state (on the Eastern Shore) and provide eight-out-of-eight Democratic members of the House of Representatives. Everywhere this is risky, as safe-ish seats become less safe while populations are moved around at the whim of their state political establishments. A little grace is provided in, for instance, quite Red Indiana, where huge pressure from Trump has been resisted. Fans of the political horse-race are advised to watch where insurgent candidates of both political persuasions demolish the certainties of the computer-savvy redistricting consultants. Sometimes even the aged writer in this corner of things can’t resist the intrigue. Real or imaginary, it’s News You Can Use.

Last night, eight members of the U.S. Senate Democratic caucus — Senators Angus King (I–ME), Catherine Cortez Masto (D–NV), Jacky Rosen (D–NV), Jeanne Shaheen (D–NH), Maggie Hassan (D–NH), Tim Kaine (D–VA), John Fetterman (D–PA), and Dick Durbin (D–IL) — abandoned their commitment to working families and joined Republicans in advancing a hollow compromise to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

Progressive Maryland is outraged by this betrayal. After weeks of hardship for federal workers, families relying on SNAP, and millions whose health care is at risk, we needed bold leadership. Instead, these senators caved to an empty “promise” of a future vote, leaving health care subsidies, Medicaid, and SNAP benefits in jeopardy.