I mean, Maryland is gerrymandered for reasons other than partisan reasons. Most of the messiness is to create two separate districts for white Democrats from Baltimore and its suburbs (the real problem) and otherwise preserve incumbents in their districts. It's possible to draw a much neater map that is nonetheless solidly 7-1.
You can actually draw a relatively neat 8-0 map. It doesn't even split the Eastern Shore that bad and it uses the Bay Bridge to cross over into Prince George's County.
Amazing how a gerrymander can look better than what exists now (presumably also gerrymander).
As noted, the existing gerrymander is made ugly by considerations that are incumbent-related rather than partisan. Not just the two white suburban Baltimore Democrats but also that the district containing St. Mary's County has to not be the DC-area black-majority district because Steny Hoyer didn't want a black primary challenger.
Gass's map ignores incumbents, leaving Sarbanes and Ruppersberger both in MD-03 and making Hoyer's district black majority. Also not sure Gass's map preserves the black-majority district around Baltimore, though perhaps his MD-7 is majority black.
