Numbers key to gaining greater influence

A 2002 ruling by the state Court of Appeals transformed Baltimore’s representation from nine districts shared between the city and the county to six districts wholly in the city. The net result for Baltimore city was a loss of three senators and nine delegates.

Montgomery and Prince George’s counties became the two largest delegations, and Baltimore lost some of the clout it once enjoyed.

In recent years, Baltimore has not had the voice on fiscal matters that it once had. Since the 2002 defeat of Senate Budget and Taxation Chairwoman Barbara A. Hoffman and the 2003 death of House Appropriations Chairman Howard P. Rawlings, Baltimore has not held the chairmanship on a fiscal committee in either the House or Senate, although it does lead other committees.

The city’s loss of the top fiscal posts is part of the ebb and flow of politics, said Hoffman, now a lobbyist.

When Hoffman first took office in 1983, two Baltimore-area lawmakers, Melvin A. ‘‘Mickey” Steinberg and Benjamin L. Cardin, were the Senate president and speaker of the House, respectively.

‘‘The pendulum swings,” she said.

The swing away from Baltimore and toward Montgomery and Prince George’s counties was evident during last year’s elections, with statewide candidates more focused on courting voters in the Washington suburbs and not in Baltimore, said Zach P. Messitte, director of the Center for the Study of Democracy at St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

‘‘Over the last six to 10 years there’s been a power shift away fundamentally from Baltimore to Montgomery and Prince George’s counties,” he said. ‘‘That doesn’t mean Baltimore doesn’t have positions in leadership. ... The future power shift is to where economic [power] and where the voters are.”