By Adam Pagnucco.
Like you, I have seen a lot of political mail in my time. Some of it tells the truth, some of it stretches the truth and some of it… well, it shows little respect for any kind of truth. But rarely have I seen anything like this mailer, which was sent to one of my sources today.
Feast your eyes, folks!
The mailer states that it was sent by Truth for Maryland PAC, a Super PAC formed on October 14 to oppose State Question 3. The question is a constitutional amendment designed to relax standards for drawing congressional districts, which Maryland Democrats argue is necessary for combating gerrymandering in other states by allies of President Donald Trump.
Governor Wes Moore is demanding that the PAC stop using fonts and colors similar to his own since he supports State Question 3 and is actively campaigning for it. The Banner has reported that the PAC is the subject of a complaint filed with the State Board of Elections over its failure to disclose its donors. (At this writing, no donors have been reported on the State Board of Elections website.)
Now this mailer has shown up claiming that Moore, Senators Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks, State Senate President Bill Ferguson and Maryland Speaker of the House Joseline A. Peña-Melnyk are “fighting against gerrymandering” and implying that they are associated with a vote against Question 3. In fact, all of them plus many more Democrats and progressive organizations support Question 3.
And it’s supplemented by a video making similar statements as shown on the Super PAC’s X account. See the embedded post below.
NEW AD! Team Maryland is standing with @GovWesMoore, and so are we. Extreme partisan gerrymandering is wrong when Trump and his MAGA stooges do it, and it’s wrong here in Maryland. Vote Yes for Wes. Vote Against Question 3. Together, we’ll leave no one behind. https://t.co/Uylammgtnm
— Truth for Maryland (@truthformd) October 29, 2026
This is one of the most outrageous claims I have seen in twenty years of writing about state and county politics.
Look folks, I don’t love State Question 3. I have previously pointed out that it would permanently restore the extreme gerrymandering formerly practiced by Maryland Democrats before they were stopped from doing it by a 2022 court decision. One of those gerrymandered districts was so contorted that a federal judge compared it to a “broken-winged pterodactyl, lying prostrate across the center of the state.” And while advocates cite Trump as a reason to pass it, Maryland gerrymandering long predated Trump and the question’s passage would not enable a new congressional map to take effect for another two years at the earliest. And so there is an honest case to be made to vote no.
But this mailer does no such thing. It uses the images of elected officials to advocate for a position that they oppose. And it does so at the very end of the election cycle, minimizing their ability to respond.
It’s shocking, execrable and totally over the top. I hope the State Board of Elections responds with all of the scrutiny it can legally bring to bear.