OP-ED in the baltimore beat: Redistricting isn’t the threat — neglect is
Published in the Baltimore Beat: https://baltimorebeat.com/op-ed-redistricting-isnt-the-threat-neglect-is/
“If aligning Maryland’s districts more closely with leaders who prioritize human needs leads to stronger federal investment in both West Baltimore and the Eastern Shore, then the outcome is not partisan. It is practical,” Crystal Jackson Parker writes.
by Crystal Jackson Parker February 24, 2026
For years, Marylanders have been warned that redistricting is dangerous — that it risks partisan backlash, court challenges, and political instability. But for many families across this state, especially in West Baltimore and on the rural Eastern Shore, instability has not come from shifting district lines. It has come from federal representation that has failed to meet basic human needs.
Maryland’s 1st Congressional District, represented by Andy Harris, includes thousands of rural residents who struggle with limited health care access, food insecurity, aging infrastructure, and unreliable broadband. These challenges are not theoretical. They are lived realities: long drives to the nearest hospital, grocery stores miles away, water systems in need of modernization, and federal investments that feel distant or delayed. Maryland has, at times, failed to fully leverage available federal nutrition tools that could strengthen food access and community health in these counties. The gap between political messaging and lived experience is real.
The same is true in Baltimore’s 40th legislative district. Our communities face some of the state’s deepest disparities in maternal health, housing stability, environmental safety, and economic mobility. Federal policy is not peripheral to these challenges — it is central. Congress determines Medicaid funding, transportation infrastructure investments like the Red Line, housing stabilization dollars, environmental cleanup resources, and reentry support for residents returning home from incarceration. It also determines whether federal resources are used to strengthen communities — or to expand detention and enforcement systems that destabilize families.
Much of the criticism surrounding redistricting has focused on the possibility of an 8-0 Democratic congressional map. But reducing this debate to partisan arithmetic misses the larger question: Who benefits from stronger federal advocacy? Rural hospitals rely on the same federal dollars as urban maternity wards. Rural families depend on the same nutrition programs that keep children fed in Baltimore. Infrastructure grants rebuild aging water systems on the Eastern Shore just as they repair crumbling roads and transit in West Baltimore.
If redistricting results in representation that prioritizes these shared needs, then communities across Maryland stand to gain — not just one region or one party.
Redistricting has always been political. Every state that redraws its maps does so with political awareness. The question is not whether politics is involved; it is whether communities with the greatest needs — Black, rural, low-income, working-class — will finally receive the sustained federal advocacy they deserve.
Some argue that pursuing a map that strengthens Democratic representation is too risky. But what is the greater risk: a court challenge, or another decade of families — urban and rural — living without the health care, food access, infrastructure, and stability they need to survive?
Redistricting is not the threat. Neglect is.
If aligning Maryland’s districts more closely with leaders who prioritize human needs leads to stronger federal investment in both West Baltimore and the Eastern Shore, then the outcome is not partisan. It is practical. It is responsible. And it is long overdue.
Crystal Jackson Parker is a lifelong District 40 resident, community advocate, and former Baltimore City Democratic State Central Committee member dedicated to advancing justice and opportunity for working families. A champion for reentry support, healthcare access, food justice, and affordable housing, Crystal has spent years organizing, building coalitions, and delivering real results for her community. She is running for State Delegate to fight for bold, people-centered policies that put Baltimore families first.
