Dems wanted to draw every Republican out of Maryland but now lambast Texas redistricting

Democrats nationwide are supporting Texas lawmakers who fled the state to block a GOP-led mid-cycle redistricting vote - a sharp contrast to their stance a decade ago, when Maryland Democrats faced little criticism for a plan that nearly wiped out every Republican congressional seat.

While overwhelmingly Democratic, Maryland features conservative strongholds at its geographic extremes - the Western Panhandle and Eastern Shore - and a smattering of Republican-majority communities throughout the more densely-populated center of the state.

Appearing to painstakingly connect some of the state's wealthier suburban communities while steering clear of inner-city Baltimore and the military installation at Fort George Meade, the district had the rare distinction of being one that a person would be unable to drive across.

It began along I-795 northwest of Baltimore, curved east to form a thread-thin line across the city's northern border, drew in some northeastern suburbs before returning to linear form southward and again widening to encompass Inner Harbor and suburbs Halethorpe and Arbutus.

At one point near US-1 in Elkridge, someone could walk for a few minutes and enter three different congressional districts, including the 3rd as it traversed Ducketts Lane.

The "pterodactyl" then swung southwest to form its "body" north of Washington, D.C., before boomeranging into a different part of Howard and Anne Arundel Counties than it had just passed through - then shifting south again to trace the disconnected coastline of the Patapsco River and Chesapeake Bay.

Tucked in between Elkridge and Glen Burnie, a distance of only a few miles, was a tendril of another congressional district, the 2nd, otherwise centered east of Baltimore City.

Between Gibson Island and Annapolis, the "pterodactyl" 3rd crossed peninsulas and islands that precluded people from being able to traverse its entire length without crossing water, while narrowly separating the waterway from another district anchored closer to Washington.

The third district drew nationwide infamy but was staunchly defended by Maryland Democrats at the time, as they sought to draw out any congressional Republican they could.

Previously, Maryland Democrats shifted the boundaries of suburban D.C. districts in 2002 to help force out the last Beltway-area Republican congresswoman, Rep. Connie Morella. That area is now represented by Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md.

The 2010 decennial redraw that created the 3rd also sought to boot the rest of the GOP delegation, and eventually succeeded in making it halfway.

In a 2017 deposition amid a lawsuit over Maryland's map, O'Malley admitted to seeking Bartlett's ouster or better: "That was my hope."

He worked with Maryland's Democratic legislature to craft such a map.

The Washington Post repeatedly bashed the gerrymandered map, being one of the first to report the judge's "pterodactyl" moniker.

He also acknowledged his own history, remarking, "I held that redistricting pen in my own Democratic hand. I was convinced that we should use our political power to pass a map that was more favorable for the election of Democratic candidates."