Anti-Marijuana Congressman Could Lose His Seat Under New Redistricting Plan Approved By Maryland Lawmakers

A Republican lawmaker who has built a reputation as one of the staunchest
opponents of marijuana reform in Congress—and whose record includes
ensuring that Washington, D.C. officials are blocked from legalizing
recreational cannabis sales—may be at risk of being unseated in November
due to redistricting in his state.

The Maryland House of Delegates on Monday approved a congressional
redistricting proposal that would leave Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) especially
vulnerable in the next election, according to analysts, giving Democrats an
advantage in the state’s first congressional district for the first time
since the last map was drawn in 2011.

Harris, the only GOP lawmaker in Maryland’s eight-member U.S. House
delegation, has been a critical voice against D.C. autonomy on a number of
issues, including marijuana reform. And as chair of the House Agriculture,
Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies
subcommittee, he’s been uniquely positioned to maintain that agenda.

The so-called Harris rider that’s been annually renewed in appropriations
legislation covering Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) since
2014—the same year that District voters approved a ballot initiative to
legalize cannabis for adult use. The provision prevents D.C. from using its
local tax dollars to implement a system of regulated marijuana sales.

Though local legislators have attempted to find workarounds to give more
adults access to cannabis (for example by expanding eligibility criteria
for medical cannabis registrations), the congressional blockade has been a
consistent source of frustration for residents and advocates, as well as
Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) and Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC).

But now a pathway seems to be forming to oust the Republican legislator,
with the Maryland House approving HB 488 to redraw the state’s
congressional map in a way that political observers say would benefit
Democratic candidates. The bill’s advancement came after a five-member
gubernatorial advisory committee voted to recommend the redistricting plan,
which now heads to the state Senate.

Harris has indicated he would file a legal challenge to the new map in
court if the legislature ultimately enacts it.

Partisan changes under new Maryland Map: https://t.co/DrNJVgN82X
pic.twitter.com/Io9uvzk0rW

— Zachary Donnini (@ZacharyDonnini) January 20, 2026

Despite protests from local leaders and advocates, the Harris rider on
cannabis in D.C. has made it into final appropriations legislation under
Democratic and Republican control of Congress and the White House. The
current FSGG bill with the rider passed the House earlier this month.

The language may ultimately be rendered moot, however, if the Trump
administration moves forward with an order from the president to
expeditiously reclassify cannabis as a Schedule III substance under the
Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

In a report published in 2024, the Congressional Research Service (CRS)
said that while federal cannabis prohibition would still be the law of the
land even if it’s rescheduled, the reform “would permit the District
government, as a matter of local law, to authorize the commercial sale of
recreational marijuana, establish market regulations, and levy marijuana
taxes, among other policy options.”

There is a complication, however, because the congressional rider also
stipulates that the District of Columbia can’t use funds to legalize or
reduce penalties for “any tetrahydrocannabinols derivative.” But that term
isn’t clearly defined in the rider or anywhere else in federal law.

Of course, it’s also the case that even if Harris were to be unseated, that
wouldn’t guarantee that the policy he championed wouldn’t be taken up by
another anti-cannabis member. But given his current influence within the
Appropriations Committee, it could be a game-changer for advocates.

Beyond leading the charge to keep D.C. from legalizing marijuana sales,
Harris has also vocally opposed other cannabis reforms in Congress.

For example, he’s pushed back against federal cannabis rescheduling, decried
what he described as a “loophole” in the 2018 Farm Bill that legalized hemp
and its derivatives and opposed allowing banks to work with state-legal
marijuana businesses.

In December, the congressman argued that President Donald Trump doesn’t
have the authority to unilaterally reschedule marijuana via executive
order. But while lawmakers could overrule any administrative move to enact
the reform, it would be a “heavy lift” in the Republican-controlled
Congress, he acknowledged.

In 2024, he told Marijuana Moment “I don’t care” whether rolling back the
Biden administration-initiated marijuana rescheduling process would hurt
the Republican party under a Trump presidency, because he felt more
strongly that the modest reform would endanger public health.

Harris has previously suggested that the director of the National Institute
on Drug Abuse (NIDA) “adamantly opposed” the rescheduling proposal—despite
the fact that her agency officially concurred with the recommended policy
change, as well as the Nora Volkow’s repeated public comments criticizing
research barriers imposed by cannabis’s current Schedule I status.

Harris isn’t an island of prohibition on Capitol Hill, so the future of
federal marijuana policy would likely remain murky even if he’s voted out
of office in November. But if Democrats regain a majority in either chamber
after the midterms, and Harris no longer occupies a leadership position in
the appropriations process, it could embolden change in a meaningful way,
particularly as it concerns D.C.

*Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.*

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Redistricting Plan Approved By Maryland Lawmakers appeared first on Marijuana
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