ANNAPOLIS, Md. - A debate over Maryland's congressional districts took an unusual turn Monday night when an Eastern Shore lawmaker proposed asking local voters if the Shore should secede from the state.
On Aug. 3, Delegate Tom Hutchinson introduced an amendment to House Bill 2100 that would have placed a nonbinding poll question on the November 2026 ballot in Maryland's nine Eastern Shore counties, asking voters whether they favor the legal secession of the Eastern Shore from Maryland.
Under the amendment, voters in Caroline, Cecil, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne's, Somerset, Talbot, Wicomico and Worcester counties would have been able to vote either "For Secession" or "Against Secession." The results would have been advisory only.
Hutchinson offered the amendment during debate over HB 2100, arguing the underlying redistricting proposal could leave the Eastern Shore without a member of Congress who lives in the region.
"When we left session in April, I was so glad that this bill did not pass, because you have no idea how disenfranchised my constituents and everyone on the Eastern Shore feels about this bill," Hutchinson told fellow lawmakers.
Hutchinson said the frustration extends beyond congressional representation. He pointed to concerns involving farmers, watermen, poultry producers, solar development on farmland, and transportation funding as examples of issues where he believes the Eastern Shore's interests have been overlooked in Annapolis.
"Most of you only like the Eastern Shore for our crabs, Ocean City, and our Orange Crushes," Hutchinson told his colleagues, drawing laughter in the chamber.
Hutchinson said his proposal was modeled after legislation introduced in 1998 by the late Eastern Shore Sen. Richard Colburn.
"So my amendment does exactly what his bill did," Hutchinson said. "It will add a question on the November 2026 ballot to the people of the 9 Eastern Shore counties whether the Eastern Shore should secede from the State of Maryland."
Hutchinson acknowledged the vote would not itself remove the Eastern Shore from Maryland. He said further action would be required from the Maryland General Assembly and Congress for secession to move forward.
The proposal prompted questions from other lawmakers about what would happen if a majority of Eastern Shore voters supported leaving Maryland.
Hutchinson said the referendum would provide lawmakers with a better understanding of how residents feel about the issue, saying he frequently hears the question, "Why don't we just secede?"
When another lawmaker, Democratic Del. Vaughn Stewart of Montgomery County, characterized the proposal as essentially a nonbinding public opinion poll, Hutchinson responded, "Probably," noting the 1998 legislation referred to a straw poll.
Vaughn urged lawmakers to reject the amendment but said Hutchinson was raising legitimate concerns about how the Eastern Shore is perceived in other parts of Maryland.
"A lot of people in both the majority and the minority party don't spend a whole lot of time on the shore or view it as a vacation destination and not a home for thousands of our fellow Marylanders," Vaughn said.
However, he argued a ballot question was not the appropriate way to address those concerns.
"I think it's a serious topic, but I think it's a topic that deserves a more serious proposal than just a state-funded public opinion poll," he said.
Vaughn also said the Eastern Shore receives approximately $936 million more each year in state funding than it returns to the state, though did not provide a source for that figure. He then argued lawmakers interested in pursuing the issue should instead introduce standalone legislation and hold a formal hearing.
The chair of the House Environment and Transportation Committee, Delegate Marc Korman also of Montgomery County, also opposed the amendment, pushing back against Hutchinson's argument that the Eastern Shore has been routinely overlooked.
He cited several examples of legislation intended to address concerns in the region, including school construction funding in Caroline County, highway funding, agricultural permitting, penalties facing watermen, Sunday hunting, exhibition driving in Ocean City, seafood marketing, and agricultural education.
"We always need to do more, and we always need to do better," Korman said. "There's more to do, and I don't think creating division between the regions of the state is a way to get that work done."
Hutchinson also pointed to a history of Eastern Shore secession proposals, including an unsuccessful effort in 1851 and a declaration supported by some Eastern Shore delegates during Maryland's 1776 constitutional convention. He insisted that a new state could be called "MarDelva" if Delaware and Virginia's portions of the Peninsula eventually joined it.
Ultimately, lawmakers rejected Hutchinson's amendment by voice vote.
"The nos have it," Maryland House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk announced following the vote. "The amendment fails.”
House Bill 2100 would put a language change to the Maryland Constitution up for referendum. That change would make it easier to redraw Congressional maps in favor of Democrats. The bill passed the House on Tuesday, Aug. 4, and now awaits consideration by the Senate.
